They All Lived Story 65: Dynastic Succession
by LadyWordsmith
Summary: Feb-Apr 1984 The trail of the Hashman Syndicate leads to international drama and a coup in Xing. With the peace of the Empire and the safety of Amestris at stake, Amestris sends aid in multiple capacities. Will the Xian family retain control of the Xingese Throne? Will Ed, Al, and Winry be able to stop the Syndicate from using technology they hoped never to see again?
1. Chapter 1

**February 1****st****, 1984**

Cal circled around his opponent slowly, his boots scraping briefly on the hard-packed dirt of the practice yard. His eyes never left the cool, pale blue gaze of his opponent. He ignored the drop of sweat moving slow down towards his left eye. The ground around them was already pocked and pitted from a full on alchemy-approved sparring session. The Tremor Alchemist was formidable, and talented, but a little crude with his technique. Of course, with as much experience as he had, Cal was biased. He had actually pulled two shots in the past five minutes, just to see what else he could draw out of the muscular young man with the rest of the class watching.

He was glad Tore hadn't minded when Cal asked to step in for a few matches. Technically, this one was Tore's class.

Tremor twitched, and Cal refrained from smiling. The guy was probably decent at poker, but when it came to alchemy, his tell gave away his moves. The ground rumbled and Cal jumped into the air and sideways as a pit formed underneath his feet. Pulling moisture from the air, he solidified it into small, near-solid droplets and sent them hurtling at Tremor with enough force that they smacked, stinging hard into skin that would feel painful, not quite like bullets smacking the man, and hit with force, but not enough to do more than leave tiny bruises for damage.

Tremor gasped, lost concentration, and doubled over.

Cal moved in with a rush, and came down on his opponent's back, pinning him to the ground and easily getting him in a quick choke.

"I give," Tremor… Larry Pullman, Cal remembered his name was, coughed out, his mouth half buried in the dirt.

Cal nodded and eased up immediately. "Good fight," he said as he offered the other alchemist a hand to his feet. "You're still telegraphing."

Pullman looked irritated, but he shook Cal's hand, clearly more annoyed at himself than his superior officer. "Thanks for the match, General."

"Whitewater," Cal corrected with a cheeky smirk. "Out here, it's Whitewater, Tremor."

"Yes, Sir."

Cal moved away then, back to the bench where he had left his uniform jacket. He felt warm enough now he certainly didn't need it, despite the brisk, cloudy weather. He felt pretty good. Tremor had been his fourth fight, and he had won them all, though not by so much that he was worried about the ability of the younger State Alchemists. He was just glad he was on form himself.

He would have liked to have taken the Training program on after Sara's death, but Kane had insisted Cal remain his second-in-command, and had given the program to the Azurite Alchemist, Torra Song. She was not a woman Cal had worked with often, given she had most often been assigned to diplomatic endeavors, and she had passed her exam while Cal was still in auto-mail rehabilitation after it had been blown off in Aerugo. She was Alyse's age, calm, and competent, but excellent in a fight, even if she did have a tendency to fight fair.

"Nice work," Tore commented quietly as Cal walked off the field. "Though I wasn't expecting to see you this afternoon."

"Frustrating morning. Bad news in the office. I figured it was better to work it out here instead of in the mess." Cal replied quietly. "Meeting in Kane's office at four o'clock. Be there."

Tore's expression flickered with surprise for only a moment before it returned to a professional, neutral expression. "Of course, Sir." Then he turned back to his students and started barking orders.

Cal watched all eyes –including the familiar gold of Ted Elric- turn back to Tore as Cal wiped his face, grabbed his coat, and headed indoors. It was going to be a long afternoon.

* * *

Tore tossed his jacket over the back of the couch with a little more force than probably necessary, but it fit the irritation he felt.

"What happened?"

He looked up to find Charisa standing in the doorway between the living room and the kitchen, an expectant expression on his face, arms crossed loosely. Insightful as ever, she had immediately sensed his mood.

Tore crossed the room and greeted his wife with a hug and a kiss. "Had a meeting in Kane's office this afternoon," he informed her. "They finally got a scouting team up in the area where the Hashman Syndicate had their base in south-east Drachma."

"I'm guessing it didn't go well."

"The place was abandoned." Tore snorted in annoyance. "No one there; no supplies. The few solid buildings had been knocked to the ground."

"Where did they go?" Charisa's eyes widened in surprise.

Tore released her as they moved into the kitchen. "Signs and rumors indicate they may have pulled back into the desert, to Xing, or possibly Lamor." Lamor was the country north of Xing, though it was nearly as flat as the desert, and cold as Drachma. Not that they knew much about it. They were mostly a nomadic people, though Ren had assured them that there was a capitol city somewhere up there on those frigid plains. They were on neutral terms with Xing at the moment, and preferred to be left alone.

"So they found nothing at all?" Charisa looked disappointed as she poured them both cups of coffee.

Tore took his black. "Not quite. They searched the wreckage and found a half-box of papers that didn't entirely burn. Not much of use, except that half of them were in Xingese. Badly soaked and scorched and muddled, but definitely Xingese. Investigations will be taking a look at them and having our linguistics specialists translate what they can."

"Well I guess I'll hear some interesting things at work tomorrow," Charisa sighed, blowing lightly over her own cup of coffee, cut with milk. "Was Franz there?"

Tore nodded. "Yeah. He had already heard from Rehnquist. He wasn't happy." Not that anyone was, but the remaining General Heimler had his nose very deeply in that case. There was a fire behind his eyes that was only there when he thought they were moving towards his wife's killers. Outside of that, aside from smiling less often –and a lot more gray hair- he was very much the same Franz Tore had grown up knowing. He sighed, and sipped his coffee. "Where are the kids?" It was too quiet in the house for them to be home, but he didn't usually beat them.

"Brandon and Camelia went over to play with Gavin and Damian this afternoon," Charisa told him, smiling as she mentioned Coran and Gale's two boys. Gavin was just a little older than Brandon, and Damian was the youngest of the lot. "We can pick them up at Ethan and Lia's though, since everyone will be there for dinner. Unless, of course, you forgot about the party tonight."

"No, I didn't forget." Though it had definitely fled his mind for a bit. Tore smiled. Edward and Winry were in town, and tonight was their wedding anniversary. Though the party was sort of an anniversary, multiple birthdays party, since Edward and Elicia both had theirs in two days. And, while no one was saying much about it, the day between had been Sara's. "What about Dare?" Not that he was too worried. His seventeen-year-old son was usually busy up until dinner time these days, and out more often. He had plenty of friends from school –certainly a better lot than Tore could admit to having hung out with most of the time- and his grades were good.

At that, he got a mysterious little smile from Charisa. "He's studying… with a girl."

"At her house?"

Charisa nodded.

"Which girl?"

"Lorraine Mathwin,"

Tore knew that name from a couple of sources. For one, Dare had mentioned her more than once in his circle of friends. For another, Lorraine's mother worked in the Assembleyman's office next the one for which Charisa worked. He grinned. "Well, I hope they have a good time."

"They're supposed to be studying Calculus."

"I didn't say I hoped they had a good time studying."

A dishrag smacked him in the face as Charisa tossed it at him. "You're incorrigible."

Tore dared a smug grin. "Isn't that why you married me?"

He dodged the pot holder.

* * *

"I can't believe it's been fifty-nine years," Winry commented softly, for Ed's ears alone, as they snuggled on the sofa in the living room of the house they had bought together, nearly as many years ago. Then, they had just been starting a family. Now, the family was too big to comfortably fit in the building when they were all together. Of course, that was why they had built the hill house in Resembool to the scale they had.

"So we'll have to do something particularly romantic and immature for sixty next year," Ed suggested with a chuckle, his arm tightening in a squeeze around her shoulders. "Something crazy."

"I think we've run out of crazy," Winry teased him. "I don't want to try and top eloping in France, three kids, and everything else we've done." The sun was already long down outside the windows, and most of the family had gone home.

"Funny how you lump us in as crazy things you've done," Ethan commented as he leaned over the couch and grinned at his parents. "Though as the youngest, I have to say I appreciate how crazy you were on that score."

"You owe your existence to it," Ed agreed, snickering. "Now how about you continue it by seeing if there's cake left in the fridge for your old man?"

Winry shook her head. "I don't know how you can eat another bite," she commented as Ethan laughed and vanished into the kitchen.

Ed shrugged. "I've got room? And unlike _some_ of the family, I don't have to worry about military evaluations this month." This last was said quite smugly.

"What's the matter, Ed?" Al asked, grinning from across the way on the other couch, where he snuggled with Elicia. "You don't think you'd pass?"

Ed snorted. "Please, Al. It would be just as easy today as it was fifty years ago. I just don't want to put all those younger alchemists to shame." He took the plate from Ethan with a nod of thanks as his son returned, and started eating the rich chocolate cake Gracia had made.

"Do you think you still could?" Elicia asked, sounding sincerely curious. "I mean, I know you keep in condition as much as Alphonse does, but you're talking about fighting men in their prime, learning from methods you developed. Could you beat Cal, or Roy, or Ted?"

"The last two half asleep," Ed replied, but Winry could see that the joking had left his face. "It doesn't take brute force to beat those who lack inexperience. Besides, that's never been my style anyway, unless we're using alchemy." As for his own former students, those now running things… "It would be better fight with Cal, or any of that group, but I still think I'd win. Which means, of course, that Al could take them all without breaking a sweat." The grin returned as he looked at his brother.

Winry watched Al shrug, clearly pleased by the compliment though, as he smiled. "Oh, most likely," he said, with a subtle note of humility. "But that's under ideal conditions. Even I can be beaten if it's an off day. So can you. Toss in a cold day, driving rain, and they come in at a distance…"

Taking advantage of Ed's auto-mail, the sensitive ports, arthritic joints… and his need for glasses to see at a distance, and it would be a different fight. Winry was still certain Ed would probably come out the victor, but she was glad that wasn't something they had to risk anymore. It was all an academic question these days. She cuddled into his side.

Ed nodded. "Fair enough," he conceded the point, before his jaw cracked loudly with a wide yawn. "Or they could try attacking me in bed. Which…I think it where I'm ready to head. What about you?" he looked at Winry.

She smiled. "So early?"

"Well, since my little brother has pointed out how decrepit we're getting," Ed quipped. "I thought we might retire… unless you don't want to join me."

"I didn't say that," Winry chuckled.

"Good." Ed set down his already empty cake plate on the coffee table, and stood, offering her his arm. "My lovely lady?"

"Guess that's our cue to head home," Al laughed.

The evening broke up amicably enough. Winry knew that the grandkids were not yet asleep upstairs. Eamon and Lily would both still be at homework, and Aeddan was probably nose-deep in a book on animals, or alchemy, or soccer. Lia was just now pulling out a pile of papers to grade.

"I'm still surprised you wanted to go to bed this early," Winry commented to Ed as they closed the door to their downstairs room. It wasn't past nine-thirty!

That was when Ed gave her a very familiar wolfish grin that almost made her groan, even as she should have known. "I didn't say I wanted to sleep, did I?"

Winry did not argue as he closed the distance between them, and gathered her into his arms with all the ardor of younger days, though not as forcefully as he might have then. "You didn't," she admitted with a playful smile of her own. "But we should keep it down. I don't think the teenagers upstairs want to know just what their grandparents are still capable of."

"Well then," Ed kissed her neck. "We'll just have to be very…very quiet."

**February 2****nd****, 1984**

Ren didn't usually run home on her lunch break from work. Kamika was in high school, Michio was in college, and Minxia was, as usual, off running around the world enjoying her career as an archeologist and anthropologist. They got phone calls and letters from some of the most interesting places.

It made things far quieter around the house; especially with Will's teaching schedule. Though this semester had been a nice change of pace, since her husband was on Sabbatical so he could focus entirely on his research. Today he was, supposedly, making them both lunch.

Which was, of course, why she only rolled her eyes when she entered to find Will on the couch, in sweat-pants, eating out of a bag of potato chips with the television on. "Does your department know they're paying you to lie around eating junk food?"

Will looked up at her and grinned. "What do you think most tenured professors do on Sabbatical?" he teased.

"Research."

"If it makes you feel any better, I did three hours of that this morning." Will popped another chip in his mouth and grinned. "Care to join me?"

"Is lunch anything more than that bag of grease and fat?"

Will snickered. "As a matter of fact, I made fresh Cretan salad and brewed iced cinnamon tea. It's ready to be eaten whenever you're hungry."

"That seems a far better idea, for both of us," Ren teased as she moved past him towards the kitchen without bothering to sit down. "I'm not buying you a whole new wardrobe if your clothes don't fit next semester, _professor._"

"Oh don't worry about that," Will's laugh was a short bark as he stood easily. "I went for a run this morning before I spent the rest of it hunched over my desk."

"It was a surprisingly nice morning." Ren smiled as they went into the kitchen together, and relaxed against Will as his arm slid around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. This time of year, she often found the mornings too early, and too cold.

Will's grin widened. "Hopefully I can make it a surprisingly nice afternoon."

* * *

There were very few things that Thrakos Argyros considered more beautiful and fascinating than ancient ruins. That was a good part of why he had taken to lobbying for historical site preservation so readily at home in Creta.

The Xingese temple site at which he found himself was as beautiful as, and possibly even older than, many of those sites he had appreciated back home. Though the view he had at the moment was both lovely and frustrating at the same time.

"Do you see the detail on this?" Minxia Elric almost cooed over the half-buried gem-encrusted chunk of statuary they had uncovered that morning.

_I would, except that your exquisitely shaped backside is blocking my view._ Thrakos would normally not have complained, but he had agreed to come on this trip –almost begged- with the distinct ulterior motive of spending weeks –even months- alone with his girlfriend, without half of Creta peering around corners spreading rumors about their relationship.

Rumors that were far juicer than reality, Thrakos had to admit. Not that he wouldn't have minded if the intimacy so commonly assumed were true. Oh sure, reunions were steamy, but getting Minxia into his bed was not so easy as half of Creta seemed to think.

_If you'd just settle down a bit, my little butterfly, instead of flitting across the world at every single opportunity. _

"Thrakos?"

He blinked. "Sorry. And no, I can't really see from this spot. Can you move?"

"Oh, Sorry." She didn't even look up, but she did move her knees over about six inches, and he could wedge in comfortably close beside her for a better view.

Thrakos happily took the opportunity, resting one hand lightly on her back to steady himself as he lowered down in beside her. "That's better."  
Minxia gave him a brief, sideways glance that said she knew what he really meant. So perhaps she wasn't as wrapped up in her work as he had thought. At least, not at this particular moment.

They had only been at the Kanxai Temple site for two days. Thrakos was doing his best to be patient. "Since I'm not the expert on Xingese temples," he teased, "Why don't you tell me what I'm looking at?"

"This looks to be the hem of the dress of an ancient temple priestess," Minxia explained eagerly. "See these carvings here below the line of jade insets? They're a traditional pattern woven into the trim of temple priestesses robes, and only the females. This particular temple was devoted primarily to women, and only women lived here."

"Does that mean I shouldn't be here?" Thrakos teased.

"Only while they were alive." Minxia brushed a little more dirt off the edge of the carving. "Since this temple took in young girls, often orphans who would have died, it was known as the Temple of Virgins."

"Sounds terribly dull."

"Should we go looking for the Temple of Lusty Bimbos?"

There was an edge to her tone that Thrakos recognized at once from years of experience. "No, no, that's not what I meant. And you know it." He didn't give her time to actually get angry. He elbowed her playfully, then leaned in and kissed her cheek.

Minxia sighed. "Why did I invite you along again?"

"You enjoy my company, and my excellent wit."

"Funny." The gleam in her eye went from anger to dangerous amusement. "I thought it was because I like looking at you."

"I'll take that." Thrakos removed the brush from Minxia's hand and pulled her up onto her knees so he could kiss her more easily. His voice felt lower, huskier. "I'm told I'm quite handsome."

"Sometimes."

"Only sometimes?" Thrakos looked at her.

A small shower of dig dust smacked him in the side of the head, and Minxia chuckled as she wrapped her arms around him. "That's better." Then she kissed him soundly.

Only his girl preferred him coated in the dust of ancient finds… Thrakos returned the kiss, as electrifying as any alchemy. If ancient ruins turned her on…

::Miss Elric!::

_These guys have as bad a timing as my countrymen._

Minxia broke off the kiss. ::What is it Huan?:: she shouted at the Xingese archaeologist, one of half-a-dozen currently working other parts of the same temple site.

::We've found another entrance! We think it may be to the underground sacred rooms!::

Minxia almost bounced out of his arms, grinning with excitement. "Did you hear that, Thrakos?" Then she replied to Huan with a bright, ::We're coming!:: and vanished out of the hole they had been in and over the next mound of dirt.

Thrakos was left alone on his knees. Grumbling, he stood and followed. _I'll get you for this, Huan. It had better be worth it. _

* * *

_Happy Birthday, Belle._ Franz Heimler saluted the photo of his wife that sat on his home office desk, took a sip of his coffee, and went back to trying to focus on the papers in front of him. The three stars on his shoulder sparkled in the lamp light, but he noted them only because the light caught on the rim of his glasses as he turned his head. He hadn't bothered getting out of uniform when he got home, but had eaten dinner –leftover rice and beef from the refrigerator- and gone right back to work.

There was something missing about this Hashman case. Franz couldn't put his finger on it just yet, but he was sure there was something they were all missing and it was gut instinct –or more likely years of living with Sara's gut instincts- that had convinced him that it was time critical. Not that he really thought he would find something that the boys down in Investigations, including his own son, hadn't seen but, well, he didn't trust that another set of eyes wouldn't find something that everyone else had missed.

That, and it was better than spending the evening thinking about the fact that it was the second one of Sara's birthdays where he wasn't taking his beautiful wife out on the town. The Syndicate had killed her. Plotting their demise seemed like a perfectly appropriate way to spend the evening. _Justice… revenge… whatever anyone wants to call it. I'm afraid it's the only present left I can offer you, my love. Just you wait. I'll get them for this. They will all answer for their crimes. _

He reached for his mug, but it was empty.


	2. Chapter 2

**February 3****rd****, 1984**

Ethan Elric smiled as he looked down at the soft, angelic face of his wife; pale blond whips had escaped her braided hair, and fallen across her face, moving slightly with any puff of breath. He almost hated to wake her, but the joint birthday party for his father and Aunt Elicia was going to be in less than two hours. The only reason it wasn't chaos was that the family had decided to minimize insanity in any one house and hold the party at Uncle Al's house since his parents' anniversary party had been here.

He also hated to wake Lia, because he knew how hard the spring semester was on all teachers, but particularly those teaching core subjects at the high school. As much as he knew she loved her job, there were days she came home growling about the few students who insisted on never paying attention, talking in class, or trying to pull stupid things. Ethan remembered high school. He did not envy his wife.

"Did you guys do something to your mother today?" he asked Eamon with a mildly accusing stare as his eighteen-year-old son came out of the kitchen holding a can of cola.

"Not my class," Eamon assured him with a shake of his head. "Though Lily said that the guys in her hour were giving everyone a hard time today."

"Speaking of your sister, where is she?" Ethan gave his son a look.

Eamon gave a casual shrug as he leaned against the doorjamb between the kitchen and the living room and sipped his soda. "Randy said he'd give her a ride home later, in his car."

"Where were they going in his car?" Ethan asked flatly. It wasn't that he disliked his daughter's boyfriend of two years. There was nothing really wrong with the boy other than, well, he was Lily's boyfriend.

"Last minute shopping for a present for Grandpa," Eamon replied with that amused little grin he always got when Ethan looked irritated about Randy. Though Ethan knew the only reason Eamon wasn't as protective was because he and Randy had been hanging out since Middle School.

"Oh. I suppose your mother knows about this."

"Of course I do," Lia commented softly, her eyes opening. "They left from school. Now will you please stop talking over my head?"

"Sorry, love." Ethan moved around the couch instead of leaning over her, and then held out a hand as she sat up. "Do you want to change before we go over to Al and Elicia's?" He noticed she had fallen asleep in her work clothes.

Lia nodded as she took his offered hand, and got to her feet. "I do. I'll be back down in five minutes."

As she headed upstairs, Ethan heard the front door slam, a soccer ball bounced through the entryway into the living room, followed by Brigitte, who looked tired as she trotted into the room and headed straight for her water dish, little white ears pricked up eagerly.

"Dad! It's here!" Aeddan's excited shout came from the entryway as he found the box that Ethan had known full well was there. It had arrived the same time he had this evening, by delivery truck.

"Is it now?" Ethan chuckled as he turned the corner, Eamon following behind, to see Aeddan ripping open the box and pulling out the bright red shirts and black shorts with large numbers on the back and "Elric Eliminators" on them.

"They look awesome!" Aeddan's grin threatened to cut his face in half as he held one up. "We're going to kill the competition."

"I hope not." Ethan smiled at his younger son's enthusiasm for the soccer uniforms for the team he and Ren had decided would be fun to sponsor in the local league. Aeddan had been playing soccer for a couple of years, but the sponsor from last year had retired, close the business, and left Aeddan's team looking for sponsorship for their winter season. "Winning is great. Let's avoid doing permanent damage to them, shall we?"

"Are you trying to take the fun out of the competition?" Eamon asked with a snort.

"I'm your father. I can take the fun out of anything you want." Ethan eyed his elder. "Have you finished that report you have due in Continental History?"

"I just need to finish the bibliography," Eamon shot back, grinning. "But that's done. I even got my applications to ECU, University at Central, and the University at Pylos in the mail this morning."

"Good for you." That pleased Ethan even as he felt a twinge knowing that in a few months, the twins would be graduating from high school and moving forward in their lives. They were both applying to all three Universities, but who knew where the future would take them. They had never been apart, but they might well now be split for the first time in their lives. Lily was interested in a more educational career, preferably teaching music. Eamon still enjoyed playing his saxophone, but he was contemplating a more active career path, since his growing enjoyment of camping and the outdoors over the years had led him to discover an interest in animals and wildlife preservation, so he was looking into studying animals, though he hadn't decided if his focus would end up in veterinary medicine or something more ecological involving wildlife.

"Can I try this on now?" Aeddan butted into the conversation, almost bouncing on his heels with excitement, the fact that it might look completely uncool not registering in his mind. Sometimes, lately, Aeddan thought cool was important.

"When we get home," Ethan replied with a shake of his head. "But if you want to bring it along you can show it off to Charlie." Not that the other boy was much into sports, but he and Aeddan got along well, so they would probably end up talking about all sorts of things.

"All right!" Aeddan folded the shirt up as the front door opened again, and this time it was Lily, carrying a shopping bag, smiling.

"Perfect timing as usual, Sis," Eamon chuckled. "We were just about to leave without you."

"Oh you were not," Lily shook her head, but smiled, her face flushed from the chill air outside. "I'm ready to go anyway."

"Randy gone already?" Ethan asked.

"Do you have to say it like that, Dad?" Lily asked. "Yes, he's gone home. His parents are having guests over tonight."

Ethan hadn't actually meant for the comment to sound like he didn't want the boy around. "I see," he replied when _that's good_ seemed like it probably wouldn't sound right, even though he meant well enough. "So all we need is your mother and we're ready to go."

"Lucky for you, I change quickly." Lia came down the stairs in casual attire, looking more awake and smiling. "Let's go before everyone decides to start without us."

"Oh they won't do that," Ethan assured her. "After all, we're bringing the meat for the grill."

* * *

Michio Elric sat in his favorite seat in a corner of the _Stalking Tiger_, sipping from his mug of steaming hot coffee and listening to the mellow Xingese soft-rock music coming out of the corner juke box. The Tiger was a favorite hang-out for the University of Xing pre-med students, and it had quickly become a favorite for him as well. While there were certainly plenty of bars in the Capitol, he liked having a place where he could get something that wasn't hard, and mellow after long hours in the classroom, or working at his part-time job in the main city hospital, as was expected of most of the pre-med students, even in their first or second years. Not that he got to do much that was particularly exciting, though he supposed he was luckier than some. His alchemical background meant that he was able to assist –mostly as an energy source- in some medical procedures. Though primarily he observed those, or sterilized instruments.

The Tiger was a comfortable place, with regular dining, bar seating -even though they mostly served tea and coffee for drinks- and then an almost living room style section in another room, full of overstuffed chairs, coffee tables, and even a wall that had been turned into one long desk space for University students to work while they downed their favorite caffeinated beverages. It was also open later than almost any other establishment in the city.

Michio hadn't brought any work with him tonight. He had turned in two major assignments that afternoon. One, a research paper in Basics of Alkahestry, and the other a five page report on the scientific findings regarding the use of various anti-viral plants in medicines and in conjunction with other forms of care in Botany II. He had been allowed to pick the subject, and he had enjoyed writing the paper, even if he had gone more than three pages over the suggested limit. So tonight he was just hanging out, though he sort of hoped that one of the girls from Basics of Alkahestry would show up tonight. He had seen her come in a couple of times, but she sat on the other side of the lecture hall from him, and he hadn't managed to talk to her more than a handful of times; almost always briefly in the hall about class.

That didn't help him shake the feeling she was looking at him as often as he was looking at her. It had taken him two weeks after the first chance meeting to find out that her name was Sinia Lao-Sing, she came from Hanshiu Province, and she was also interested in medical alkahestry, though she was newer to the practice than he was. To Michio, that opened up a perfect opportunity to offer to help her out, maybe study together, but he hadn't had a chance to talk to her about it yet.

Tonight would be the perfect opportunity. That was, if he was lucky enough that Sinia showed up.

::They say drinking alone is bad for you, Mich.:: Guan, Michio's friend from two rooms down on his dormitory floor, dropped down in an overstuffed chair next to Michio's and saluted him with a steaming mug that smelled of coffee, possibly with a shot of something harder.

::I'm not sure drinking in groups is any better,:: Michio countered with a chuckle. ::But I'm pretty sure this isn't going to kill me.::

::Not like that Between-Terms party?::

::I seem to recall it was you hugging the toilet after that one, not me,:: Michio countered. He hadn't been foolish enough to get drunk at that party, no matter how many of his friends had enjoyed themselves more than they should. He had gotten away with nursing down a single drink all night. It hadn't taken long before few others would have noticed.

Guan shrugged, but had the grace to look mildly embarrassed. ::Only the once,:: he pointed out. ::So what do you think about the test review for Advanced Mathematics?::

::Do we have to talk about class tonight?:: Michio asked. ::The test isn't until next week.::

::Fair enough.:: Guan sipped from his cup. ::Has she shown up yet?::

Michio was startled only for a moment. Of course Guan had guessed his real reason for sitting here tonight. He shook his head. "No, not yet."

Outside, a large rumble split the night. Out the window, Michio saw a flash of light.

::Sounds like a storm rolling in,:: Guan commented, though his eyes widened a moment as the building shook slightly from the sound of strike.

::A big one,:: Michio agreed.

Another thundering roll, another flash… but the light seemed odd. Now other people were looking up. Then there was another pounding noise, and the building shuddered slightly more.

The hairs on the back of Michio's stood up, and it had nothing to do with electricity. It was something inside. A feeling… ::Something's wrong.::

He stood, as did Guan, as people began to move to the windows.

Fire. The light was not the white-blue flash of lightning, but growing orange, yellow and red. People in the streets were coming out, looking, pointing to the North.

A minute later, the world exploded.

**February 4****th****, 1984**

A soft patter of rain on the roof was the only sound that came to Will's ear for several moments, and he couldn't tell what had woken him. No thunder, just pattering.

Then the phone rang again. Will looked at the clock by the bed… three in the morning. Who would be calling? Ren was sound asleep beside him, resting peaceful and deep.

Grumbling, Will crawled out from under the warm covers, bracing against the chill air that smacked against his skin as he crossed the room to the upstairs phone they had installed a few years back. _Time to turn up the heat. _"Hello?" he spoke into the phone groggily.

::Uncle Will?::

Will blinked. That voice was familiar. It sounded like it was coming from a distance. "Tao?" he spoke the name of his eldest nephew. It was early morning in Xing.

::I don't have much time….:: Tao said. ::The Capitol is under attack! They've got some kind of projectile explosives. The North Wall is down. North Quarter's in flames and the palace is under attack! We're pulling back—::

Explosions on the other end blocked out whatever Tao had been trying to say.

::—that door!:: Tao's voice came back, though it was clear he was yelling at someone else. ::Retreat to the safe rooms!:: Then the sound returned to the vicinity of the phone. "Yours was the only Amestrian number I knew,:: Tao admitted. ::Please, call your government! They have lots of men and weapons.:: His voice grew distant again and Will faintly heard ::Get them out of here! Hurry before—:: And the line went dead.

* * *

The scene in President Rehnquist's briefing room was as close to chaos as Military HQ got, as Edward knew only too well. He hadn't been invited to this meeting. Neither had Alphonse. Yet they both stood against the wall and their presence had received some raised eyebrows but no one had dared tell them to leave. The one Sergeant in the hallways who had tried to question them had almost wet himself when Ed informed him exactly who he was and what the man could do with the regulations. It was a sign of the severity of the situation that Alphonse hadn't even given Ed a dirty look.

They weren't the only people in the room who were not, strictly speaking, military either. Will and Ren were both present. As the ones who had received the initial contact from the heir to the Xing Empire –and as Ren was Emperor Mao's sister- it was only fitting. Besides which, Ren knew things about politics in Xing that even the ambassadors didn't know.

The long table was full, holding all of the higher ranking military officers, including plenty of familiar faces: Marcus Kane, Hal Brewster, Cal, and Franz. Tore was there, looking as bleary eyed as the rest, though not out of ease. Not that Ed thought any of the men were anything other than at their most alert. The fact that they had been pulled out of their beds before five in the morning did not at all hinder them in an emergency situation.

This definitely qualified.

"We've had confirmation from several sources," Rehnquist was explaining tiredly, "That this attack on the Capitol City is, indeed, a coup attempt. The men and weapons are reported to have come out of Tiahuan Province. While we have no confirmation yet on whether or not the Tiahuan Clan is directly responsible or not, the soldiers are reportedly wearing the clan colors."

Ren looked ready to spit. Her hand, tight in Will's, was white knuckled.

"They have plowed a fairly straight line of destruction through the Northern quarter of the city," Rehnquist continued in his usual, calm manner. Only the strain in his eyes made it clear how hard he found giving this particular report. "The Palace is under siege and we do not have any report yet of whether it has been taken or the status of the members of the Imperial family. Reports are inconclusive and unreliable, with everything ranging from they all escaped, to everyone is dead. Given the situation however, that last seems unlikely."

Ed hoped they weren't just saying that.

"Our Ambassador contacted us after evacuating the city." Franz stood up as Rehnquist settled back in his chair, clearly exhausted. Franz looked only a little better, despite being decades younger. "His last contact with any member of the Imperial family was right before the phone call from Tao Xian, apparently." Franz' eyes flickered to Will and Ren. "With much the same message. A request for aid from Amestris. How much aide has, of course, not been determined, but given the severity of the attack, some response of force is necessary."

"Sounds like a civil war," Brigadier General Tyrain commented. The younger, dark-skinned man looked particularly disgruntled at being up early. "I know that we have treaties with them, but by the time we mobilize this could all be over. What do we owe to them anyway?"

Ed bit his tongue. He didn't need to lose his temper. Franz answered for him. "Because Xing came to our aid in the war with Drachma," Franz replied with a much sterner, colder tone than Ed would have used. There was a matter-of-factness to it that dared the other man to question it and see what happened. "It's not a matter of treaties, lines on a map, or timing. Xing was unstable for decades until Mao Xian replaced the previous Emperor. If we allow a violent overthrow to go unopposed, it could destabilize the current continental peace for decades."

No one else argued.

"What kinds of weapon are they using?" Kane asked, getting back to the matter at hand.

Franz continued. "The weapons are not cannons, or even really gunpowder based. Instead, they seem to use a liquid combustion fuel. They can be aimed, and they are designed to explode on impact. The explosive charges are here."

One of Rehnquist's aides flipped the chart to show several sketches of the weapons in question: mostly cylindrical projectiles.

Ed almost gasped. Beside him, he could feel Al tense at the same moment. _How in the hell?_

Apparently their expressions did not go unnoticed. "Something you recognize, Edward?" Rehnquist asked.

Ed couldn't deny it. Not now. He nodded. "Yes but… it's classified."

"I think everyone in here has the necessary clearance." Rehnquist's eyes went to Will and Ren.

"It's more complicated than that," Ed objected. He had never thought he'd be dealing with this particular technology again in his lifetime. It had taken decades to come to it here. But, apparently, those decades had still brought to fruition the evidence of research he had done himself in the other world.

Unfortunately, the fate of Xing might rely on his divulging that information now.

"I don't think you have the luxury of being particular, Fullmetal." Rehnquist accented the name.

All eyes were on him and Al now. Ed sighed. "Rockets," he said softly. "The technology they're using… I don't know what they're calling them, but I've seen it before. They're called rockets."

"How do you know this?" Lieutenant General Bringham demanded.

"Because I did research, design, and testing on them over fifty years ago." Ed did not say where. "It was decided by President Mustang that the information was too dangerous to be used. It was classified and I was sworn not to reveal it. The notes have been locked away ever since. I should know, I've still got them."

"You?"

All eyes were on them, wide, though none with suspicion.

"Yeah. Anyone has a problem with that, they can have a talk with my boot later." Ed snorted. "The point is I know what those things are capable of, and what they're describing isn't at all an exaggeration. You couldn't even do that much damage with alchemy unless you had a team of alchemists who could work together in perfect synchronization using the same techniques. Xingese Alchemists don't work that way anyway. And… it explains where the Hashman Syndicate has been getting their explosives, if they really have moved to Xing for their base of operations. Wouldn't they be somewhere near Tiahuan Province, according to intelligence?" Ed looked at Franz.

Franz nodded. "They would." There was a new light in his eyes as he seemed to be putting together the same information Ed was.

"Then it's not going to be easy to help free the Capitol City from an occupation," Ed replied flatly. "But it can be done. The problem will be taking out not only their weapons, but finding and shutting down their manufacturing facility." Which was, most likely, somewhere deep within the Provincial territory. "And we still need to find out if this is an isolated incident."

"What do you mean?" Bringham asked.

"I mean I don't believe this is the only attack." It just didn't make sense that it would be. It seemed too obvious, and the strike had happened without the initial movements being tracked. "We need reports to find out if they've attacked elsewhere. A coup is only good if you can back it up once you take the top of the hill." They needed to find out who was alive too, and who was captured. And who was dead.

After Ed had said his piece, he sat back and kept his mouth shut until the meeting ended. There wasn't a whole lot that could be done other than preparing to mobilize a force to go to the city's immediate aid. Preparations could move into full swing without waiting for more information, though intelligence would be working around the clock to get news from so far away.

Finally, it was over, and the military minds in the room started a press for the door to get to work on individual assignments and alert their men to the situation.

"Have you heard from Michio?" Al asked Will softly as they waited for the military officers to file out first.  
Will shook his head. Ren looked pale, even with her already milk-fair complexion. "Not Minxia either."

Ed winced. The University was in the North Quarter so there was no way of knowing if Michio was all right until he found a way to contact the family. Knowing him, though, Ed would have been surprised if Michio hadn't made some attempt to protect his relatives in the Palace, given the chance. If he had been there at the time, than it was also possible he too was captured. Just because the Elric relatives were officially not able to inherit the throne did not make them potential political pawns or hostages.

Even with rockets and explosives, Ed couldn't imagine Mao, Mei, or any of the family giving up without one hell of a fight.

"Minxia wasn't anywhere near the Capitol," Al commented reassuringly. "We'll probably hear from her as soon as she gets news of the attacks."

"If she does get anything out at that dig," Will commented.

"Think positive," Al smiled at his son. "Besides, you know Minx keeps an ear to the radio for anything important, even in the middle of nowhere."


	3. Chapter 3

**February 4****th****, 1984 (Still) **

By the end of the day, reports were pouring in via telegraph and phone lines, but they were grim. The Capitol was nearly a quarter rubble, and the Palace had been taken by the Tiahuan soldiers with their explosive projectile rockets. There was a report of combat on the Tiahuan Province border with its nearest neighbors as well; both the Yao and Paxang Provinces. It seemed that the coup attempt might include a bid to carve out their own empire, however small, from the rest. Word was that the Tiahuan –conservatives by anyone's standards- had finally decided to do something about their dislike of the forward-thinking direction Mao had been taking Xing since he became Emperor. They knew the family would continue that direction, and they had decided to put a stop to it to 'save' Xing. If that meant wiping out the Imperial family and installing someone new as Emperor, then so be it.

The next direct communication from the Imperial family did not relieve anyone's anxiety. Tao contacted them again, managing to call Military Headquarters directly this time. "I am in command of what remains of the Imperial Guard," Tao reported in his best Amestrian. "We have had to retreat out the Southern gate, and are holding on the hills to the South-West of the capitol. They have not yet tried to pursue or push us here. The rest of our organized military is marching on the Tiahuan border on orders from myself and General Quixong. I have no word of my family other than reports that claim Empress Jiu, my wife and daughter, my sister-in-law and her son, and my sister Meifen, were seen being loaded into a truck."

When he heard those words, Alphonse felt a terrible sense of sympathy for his daughter-in-law's nephew. Tao's wife, he knew, was pregnant. Surely, he hoped, they wouldn't kill the women and children. Not yet, if they made good hostages.

It was only ten hours after their first meeting in Rehnquist's meeting room that Al found himself and Ed back there, with all the officers, as more definitive plans were laid for the first wave of men who would have to move towards Xing at all speed. Even with the trains, it would take nine days to reach where Tao said he and his men had shored up outside the city. That assumed nothing went wrong.

Al knew Ed was dying to butt in, but his brother had remained surprisingly quiet during much of this meeting. Al knew why, even if the others didn't. He and Ed had already discussed, in some detail, what needed to be done in order to make sure that the full destructive capabilities of rockets as weapons did not do to their world what it had eventually lead to in the other. At least, he thought, they didn't have bombs with the power of the ones Dumais' journals had told them had destroyed two cities in Japan.

At the moment, the discussion was focused on which members of the military leadership would be going to Xing. It had gone back and forth for several minutes before Franz Heimler set his hands on the table and stood up. "With all due respect, President Rehnquist, I request assignment to command of the Xing Operation."

Several faces registered surprise. Al glanced at Ed, whose face was grim but not startled. _They think the Hashman Syndicate is involved. Of course Franz wants in on it._

A few others started to voice objections, but Rehnquist held a hand up, silencing them with surprising ease. "Do you have a plan, General Heimler?"

"I do, Sir."

"Let's see it." He gestured to the map of Xing that had been pinned up on the wall over the usual map of Amestris. This particular one was blown up, leaving off the farther eastern regions of the Empire and focusing on the Western half, where the embroiled areas were at present.

"This is what I propose," Franz walked to the map, picking up a long pointing stick as he moved. "A two stage response. Our first objective needs to be to relieve the Xing military holding outside the Imperial City, and retake it. The seat of Xing is the power of Xing, and that symbolism is ingrained in the people. That is also our best bet for finding out the truth of reports regarding the whereabouts and status of any members of the Imperial family who are still unknown by the time we arrive. Obviously we hope to hear from or about them before the next two weeks are up."

He tapped the capitol. "Once the majority of our forces have joined up with Tao Xian and his men here, a force will branch off, come around the South of the city, and move North-East to the Tiahuan border to bolster Xingese forces here. Both forces will have Alchemists in their ranks, for defense as much as anything else, but they are our best match going up against weapons like these."

"You want to use alchemists offensively?" Brewster asked.

"I want to use them against weapons that have already proven more destructive than any other force we've faced…aside from enemy alchemists," Franz replied with a stony calm. "We have alchemists who have already proven they can take out enemy fire in mid-air, particularly explosives. If they can do that, then they can take on these." He glanced at Ed and Al, as if to verify that fact. Al nodded, as did Ed, however subtly. Franz knew the right of it. It occurred to Al that Franz probably had very nearly as much knowledge of what alchemists could do on the field as alchemist's themselves. He'd been married to Sara for decades, and with the rest of the family, he'd been immersed in it. Apparently he'd been listening.

"There are certainly adaptable methods," Cal Fischer spoke up in agreement.

"Which is why I want you and Closson," Franz replied. "We need alchemists who can think on their feet, who are adaptable, and particularly suited to this kind of work. If nothing else, they should be glad that they will be used against weapons instead of people as much as is possible. There are a lot of innocent people in danger in Xing right now. This is our opportunity to help them."

Cal and Tore both nodded, though Al could already imagine what Alyse and Charisa would think of this plan. His daughter was not going to be happy.

"You need one more thing," Ed spoke up suddenly.

Everyone in the room turned to look at him. Al noticed at least a half-dozen pairs of eyes rolling.

"What's that, Fullmetal?" One of the older Generals quipped.

"You need a team that can dismantle the factories," Ed replied, stepping forward away from the wall. "A specialized team that knows the best way to destroy rockets without setting off half of Tiahuan Province. I suggest a team primarily of engineers and alchemists."

"You claim to be our resident expert on the subject," Rehnquist commented, though as Ed and Al had shown him some of Ed's old notes for proof earlier that day, he did not look as skeptical as he might. "Who would you suggest?"

"A force that is not directly under orders from the military," Ed continued into what they had discussed, knowing it would not be popular. "Going to their aid is one thing. No matter what you do, if the military starts sabotaging Xingese industrial sites, it will leave a bad taste in people's mouths. Al and I will go, with a team of our choosing. We're pretty good at industrial sabotage, as you might know by now."

"Aren't you kind of old for this?" Bringham commented wryly.

Al stifled a grin as Ed's eyes flashed, and Ed rounded on the dark-skinned General. "This isn't about age, it's about knowledge. It will be a stealth mission, behind enemy lines for much of it. It's not about brute strength, but cunning and careful planning. Besides, I can still take most any alchemist in the state in a fight. This room…" he glanced around meaningfully… "I can take any one of you. Al could too. Feel free to meet me outside afterwards if you don't believe me. But what you need for that mission is people you don't need on the front lines. If we do it right, they won't even realize we're there until it's too late and we're gone."

"How are you going to hide in Xing?" the younger man scoffed again.

"It's amazing how well you can blend in when you speak the language, and with a little hair dye," Al chimed in.

Bringham shook his head, but most of the others looked thoughtful. Or, at least, they were letting Rehnquist and the upper brass make their decisions without having cause to get irritated with the rest of them. Who knew what armpit assignment they might get next otherwise.

"Pick your team," Rehnquist said finally. "But don't tell me who. From this point, other than coordinating communication, the less the military knows about what you're doing the better, though I do expect you to pass along any information that might keep the rest of our forces from getting blown up."

"Of course," Ed shrugged, as if it were of little consequence, and it would be an easy thing to accomplish. "While we're there, we'll also sniff around for any hostages. If they start making demands, be sure to let us know. It may help us get them out before it's too late."

Military action, rescue operation, and demolition party all in one; it was going to be a very interesting couple of months. Al just hoped their wives didn't kill them for volunteering.

"All right, Heimler," Rehnquist said after several more minutes of back and forth discussion. "Command is yours, and Fischer and Closson will be under your command. Show these Tiahuan Xingese we mean business."

Franz nodded. "Yes, Sir."

* * *

"Of course I'm coming with you," Winry insisted, giving Ed one of those glares that told him he had as much chance of changing her mind as convincing her that glass-shard underwear might be comfortable. "Though I wish we had time to swing through Resembool. There are a few tools I'd want to take with me, as well as the rest of your notes on the subject. It's been a while since I read all of your rocketry research."

"You read all of it?" Ed asked, startled.

"Of course I did!" Winry shook her head in exasperation. "I was the engineer in the family first. Besides, I thought there might be something in there I could use for improving auto-mail, or the propulsion on wheelchairs."

"You wanted to put rockets on wheelchairs?" At that, Ed had to stifle a laugh.

Winry shook her finger at him. "Well, it was an idea. I did decide it wasn't a good one. At least, not at the explosive size you were writing about. But I'm not letting you and Alphonse run off into Xing without me." She lost a little steam then. "Who else do you want to take?"

"Will and Ren have both volunteered already," Ed admitted. "I don't really want them both to go, but I can't blame them. We haven't heard a thing from Mich and Minx, or Mei or any of the rest of the family. I'm amazed Ren's held together as well as she has." Her mother, brother, and all the rest of her Xing blood kin were missing save her eldest nephew. Tao was in his thirties.

"Having Ren along would be an asset," Winry nodded thoughtfully, her eyes going soft with sympathy. "Her knowledge of local custom, politics, and her skills as a doctor might well save us all from disaster."

"Will's refusing to let her go without him, even if it means leaving Kami here," Ed informed her. Kamika was nearly an adult, but her parents had no intention of pulling their youngest child into a war zone that had already thrown the family into chaos. "Though he doesn't want her front-line. I wish we could take Ted and Roy, but this is going to be strictly an undercover operation, and I promised I wouldn't pull any of the military men away from other posts for this. Rehnquist is concerned about political repercussions."

Winry looked as irritated with that notion as Ed had. "Politics? There are people dying! If we can help, we've got to do it."

"That's my girl." Ed smiled and pulled Winry close. For a moment, she was stiff from anger, then she relaxed in his arms, wrapping her own tightly around his neck.

"Besides," she spoke softly. "Someone has to keep you put together."

"I know," Ed replied. "That's why I'm glad you're coming with me." Dangerous as it was, he felt they were in less danger as long as their plan was unknown than the military, who were walking right up to those rockets as not much more than a big target, hoping they could get out of the way until they figured out effective attack strategies.

Ed had already thought of several. Tomorrow, he would be passing those on to Cal and Tore so they could brief the alchemists who would be going.

"I have to admit," Winry replied, "You're taking this a lot more easily than I expected."

"I've learned when it's best not to argue with you." Ed chuckled. "Besides, I think I'd rather have you by my side. This isn't going to be easy though, you know that." His biggest worry at their age was, as much as he hated to admit it, their age; particularly where Winry was concerned. Not that she wasn't healthy and fit, especially at their age, but she wasn't the fighter he and Al were. He didn't know how much she could still take, especially when who knew what the weather would be like. It was winter in Xing as much as it was winter here. Some parts of it were warmer, but probably not where they were going. Ed wasn't looking forward to aching ports and arthritic joints either.

Maybe Winry would fare better than him after all.

"I'm more worried about the argument we'll probably have upstairs tonight."

Ed straightened enough to look her in the eyes, though he knew what she meant. "Ethan's going to have to fight that battle himself."

* * *

"Don't even give me that look, Ethan Elric."

Ethan looked at his wife, torn between indignation and chagrin; the first that she would dare presume she knew what he was going to say, and the second at the fact that she almost certainly knew, given the wary expression on Lia's face. "Are you even going to hear me out?"

"What's to hear?" she asked, standing in their bedroom, arms crossed under her chest. "You want to go to Xing. You want to help Ren and Will and your folks find Ren's family and destroy those rocket factories. I listened over dinner. I saw the look on your face; it's there now." She gestured at him with one hand. "And then you're going to tell me that your health shouldn't be a concern because you were fine during that trip you took several years ago, and that you'll be sneaking around, and you'll pretend it won't be that dangerous even though you'll have to sneak through possibly hundreds of miles of Xingese countryside without being discovered and you could be shot, or just blown up-" her voice caught for a moment there, "-and it's the end of Eamon and Lily's senior year, and Aeddan's soccer team will be starting practices and you… you'd just run off and endanger everything we have. It's bad enough half the family is going. I'm still stunned that Franz asked for the mission, and that your parents and Al are going."

Ethan crossed the room and took her in his arms. "I know. We're all scared, Lia. I'm worried about them, and Will and Ren. Not a word on Michio even. It's driving them crazy, and it's going to until they go and save everyone they can. Against these rockets, they'll need all the help they can get to restore peace in Xing. The number of lives lost is climbing already."

"And I don't want you among them."

"I wasn't about to try and get blown up," Ethan replied, but the sting in her words hurt. "I have to go, Lia. You understand that, don't you?"

"No, I don't, because you don't." Her expression hardened again, and Ethan knew he was in for it. "The military is going, they're sending a whole _division_ to Xing under Franz' command! They'll have the best State Alchemists they can take with them. As for doctors, it's Xing. They have most of the best medical alkahestrists and physicians in the world. _You_ are needed here. Besides, if Ren's gone, one of you needs to stay here and keep an eye on the practice."

"Our resident interns are more than capable of handling our current patients," Ethan objected, but he knew it wouldn't help him out this time.

"No!"

"Well, they are."

"That's not what I meant." Lia shoved at him in frustration. "Yesterday… we were celebrating. Now the world's in an uproar again. I guess, I should just be grateful neither of the boys is old enough to go."

Ethan decided not to point out that age and war meant little to nothing in his family. Sara and his father and uncle had proven that. "There is that," he agreed instead. "You don't have to worry about them."

"Or you." Lia looked him in the eyes. "Tell me you won't go, Ethan. We need you here."

He wasn't going to win this one, and Ethan had learned the hard way he didn't want to try and push this fight with his wife. The last time he'd won it, he'd had to live with his mother-in-law for several years in penance. Stubborn Elric pride could not withstand his wife's eyes. "All right," he sighed. "All right. I won't go to Xing."  
"Thank you." Lia's arms wrapped around him in a tight embrace of clear relief.

Ethan felt immediately guilty. He couldn't blame Lia for her fears. They weren't unfounded. And besides, the Hashman Syndicate was still out there. As much as they had gotten used to the heightened security around Central, Ethan still noticed that they had a military detail on them almost any time they went anywhere. And the almost probably just meant he couldn't always pick them out. "I love you," he replied. "And I love our kids.

Ethan wondered if anyone else was having trouble with their wives tonight.

* * *

"What makes you think you can run off and make me stay home?" Trisha asked Roy with a look of sheer indignation and fury.

Roy gave her a look that was meant to be patient and placating. Instead it just looked frustrated. "We can't risk both of us, Trish. Think of the kids. They're not old enough for us both to go."

"So _you _stay home."

"Look, I was assigned to the mission. You weren't. If you really want to have this fight, take it up with our commanding officers," Roy suggested.

Trisha stifled a growl. The kids were both in bed upstairs, and she didn't want to wake them. "Not with Dad at the top of command. It won't happen. I don't like being protected."

"Who said you were being protected?" Roy asked, looking surprised.

"Well you're going," Trisha pointed out. "Whitewater's going. Shock's going. Even Ted and his lot are going and they're practically green! Damn it, even _James_ got assigned to go on the investigations end. Every member of our family in the military is going except for me!" There was nothing fair about it. There wasn't even anything practical about it. She was fully capable, and her skills could be tremendously useful, and yet here she was, stuck at home playing the mother and wife.

"Trisha!" Roy set his hands on her shoulders, and took a deep breath, clearly trying not to lose his temper either. "I didn't say it was fair. It's not. I know you're an amazing alchemist. Everyone knows that. Your father isn't even making those assignments; Kane put that in Whitewater's hands. We can't _both _go."

It was true, on the simple account that neither of them wanted to leave the kids, and if something happened to them both, it would be the kids who actually suffered most. She sighed. "I still don't see why it has to be you and not me."

Roy, intelligently, did not say it was because he was male, even though he half suspected that was the case. "Because you're the better parent?" he suggested instead. "Do you think they'd survive months at home with just me?"

"You'd manage." Complimenting her skills as a mother weren't going to get him far. "I want to have a word with Whitewater about this."

"No." His hands tightened and there was a moment of concern in Roy's eyes that gave her pause. "Trisha don't argue. Do this for me. Do this for your Dad."

"Cheap shot, Mustang," she grumbled. Bringing her father into this. Her mother had only been dead a couple of years. While Trisha was incredibly thankful that he hadn't fallen apart, or lost himself in drink or depression like so many other men might, she didn't like Roy using that to make her feel guilty about wanting to go do her _job_.

"Yeah, I know," he admitted. "But it will be easier for both of us if we know that you're here, safe, with Rosa and Gabriel. Your Dad's already lost your Mom. What do you think it would do to him if he lost you too?"

"What about James?" Trisha pointed out, though she could tell she'd already lost this fight, at least if she only wanted to have it with Roy. "He's going."

"As a brain," Roy replied without hesitation. "He's not going to be assigned a frontline position and you know it. Dangerous, yes, but right up in the front as explosive fodder? Not a chance."

"That's good," Trisha replied, "Because you will _all_ owe me for going off and making me worry that any or all of you might come home dead."

* * *

"If you die, Cal Fischer, I will never forgive you."

"I didn't think you would," Cal replied softly as he cuddled with his wife in bed. The room was dark, save for a surprisingly clear night's full moon that flooded their room with soft silver-blue light. "I assure you, my goal is to not only live through this war, but for this to be the first major military offensive where I don't come home with new holes in me."

"I think that's a very good thing," Alyse agreed. In the darkness, he felt her warm body shift, and soft lips touched his. "And nothing missing either! The last thing you need is more auto-mail."

"Oh I don't know," Cal teased, "There are some parts that could be very interesting challenges to auto-mail engineers."

"And even more of one if you enjoy intimacy," Alyse quipped back.

"Fair enough." Cal stopped joking. "I mean it, 'Lyse, I'll do my best. Besides, this time I'm in a command position. I'm not going to be out on the front lines unless something's already gone completely haywire. If we get into that kind of disaster, well, then we've got bigger worries. These guys have got to be stopped; both the coup, and whatever the Syndicate's involvement is with them. Until then, not even home is really safe." He didn't have to mention Charlie's kidnapping. He still had nightmares about it every once in a while himself. He was grateful for the added security on his family, given he knew the drain that was on military resources. It was good to know that Rehnquist took the lives of his State Alchemists seriously.

"You sure know how to reassure a girl don't you?" Alyse asked wryly.

"I do try."


	4. Chapter 4

**February 5****th****, 1984  
**

The scent of burning rubble accosted Michio's nose as he slunk past the blackened husk of what had once been an apartment building, doing his best to remain out of sight of the Tiahuan soldiers patrolling the streets. It wasn't even forty-eight hours since the initial attack on the city, but already it seemed a foreign place to him.

Almost no one was out on the streets at this early hour. Michio had only made the sojourn into the city because he desperately needed to find medical supplies, food, and drinking water. He had come close. Armed with what he had been able to get from the shops on the East side of the city, he made his way cautiously towards the gates, and the North end of the city. It had been the only way out –and a calculated risk- going out that way last night, but it was a ploy that had worked. None of the invading army had expected members of the Imperial family to flee _towards_ the attackers.

That was the only reason he had gotten out of the palace after rushing up the hill to protect his family. The night was a memory that was stark, and painful, though slightly hazy with pain and smoke.

Michio crept out a hole in the wall after checking to see that no one was looking, and vanished into the forest that came almost up to the walls on the northern side of the city. The forest that had been used –along with alchemy, he suspected- to hide the oncoming military. He still wanted to know how they had arrived so suddenly and without their movement being noticed beforehand.

Michio suspected traitors in the Palace. There were several guards in the palace who were from Tiahuan Province. The Tiahuan clan was known for their long-standing loyalty to the old Imperial ways. The fact that they didn't like Uncle Mao's more moderate, forward-thinking ways was a long-standing fact, and a bone of contention between Xian and Tiahuan.

The ground was damp from rain that had fallen the night before, thankfully putting out several of the fires started in the northern quarter of the city. The forest dripped, smelling of rich, dark loam as Michio crept through it, doing his best not to be noticed as he stole several hundred yards from the walls, and then ducked down a small gully and into the tiny inset cave along the sand-bottomed stream. Only playing with his cousins as a boy had taught Michio the location of that particular cave, on one of their rare family trips to Xing, but he had been grateful for it now.

::Uncle Mao?:: he called tentatively as he crawled through the opening that, while easy enough for children, was a tighter fit for an adult. Creeping aggravated his twisted ankle, and his wounded shoulder, but there was little to be done for it. His uncle was in far worse shape.

::Here,:: Mao replied, his voice quiet more out of weakness than a need for silence.

Michio crouched down on the smooth sandy floor, next to the prone form of the Emperor of Xing. His uncle's wounds were far greater than his own, and Michio counted it among the universe's miracles that his still-limited grasp of healing alchemy had been enough to close them, and keep his uncle from losing more blood. Everyone had fought valiantly, but Michio counted himself lucky that he had managed to get his wounded uncle out of the Palace at all, let alone to a safe hiding place. At least, as safe as anywhere. ::How are you feeling?::

::I've been better,:: Mao replied without any attempt to smile. His skin was pale, save for his face, which was flushed with fever. Stopping the bleeding was only one step. Michio knew his uncle's situation was still dire. He wasn't good enough to stop internal bleeding and heal his uncle's organs fully, though he didn't think anything critical had been hit, or his uncle would be dead already.

::I've got water, and tea,:: Michio commented as he sat down the ragged pack in which he had stuffed the supplies he had pulled out of abandoned shops. If they all got through this, he would return to those places with money later. AT the moment, he doubted the owners would notice a few missing items. ::Green tea,:: he added, pulling out a liter bottle. ::I also found some food, clean bandages, and a couple of bottles of disinfectant.:: It wasn't much, but it was all he was going to get at this point. ::Oh, and these,:: he pulled out a bottle of pills. ::They're not very strong, but it's better than nothing.:: They should help with the fever, even if they were likely too weak to do much about his uncle's pain. They would do more for Michio, but he planned to save them, using them only for his uncle. He had no way of knowing how long it would be before he could get his uncle safely to someplace where he could get proper medical attention.

Mao's eyes focused on the bottle, and he nodded. ::What's to eat?:: he asked weakly.

::Mostly canned goods,:: Michio admitted. ::And a can opener.:: He had wanted foods that wouldn't spoil, and wouldn't require cooking, so he had grabbed cans of pre-cooked foods and stuffed the remaining corners of the pack with anything that would last for days, or might be cooked easily, including a bag of rice. They could live off rice for weeks if necessary. Michio hoped it wouldn't take that long. ::So, for tonight, I've got canned sausages, canned mushrooms, and pre-packaged rice balls.:: He pulled out one of each, including the plastic-wrapped rice balls. ::We'll eat as soon as I've seen to your wounds.:: The worst one, a deep gauge in the side of Mao's stomach, was the one that worried Michio the most. Another alchemical healing session, disinfectant, clean bandages, and then the medicine. It was all he could do.  
Michio just hoped it was enough.

* * *

"So when do you leave?" Krista asked James as they sat in the café.

Under any other circumstances, James would have been thrilled to be alone with Krista, drinking coffee and eating fruit-filled pastries. He was glad she had agreed to meet him for breakfast, but he wished the circumstances were better. "In two days," he told her. "They want us ready to go with the first group. It will take two or three days to get everyone on trains heading for Xing. We'll be on the first one."

"So you'll be going with Mr. Closson, and Cal Fischer."

"And the rest of the State Alchemists," James nodded. They were all going on that first train. His father would be on the second train with the majority of the rest of their initial force. After that it would be a steady stream of trains for as long as the lines remained open. "They need intelligence."

"Are you scared?"

James wanted to scoff at that, but it was Krista asking, and he just couldn't bring himself to fake bravado in front of her. "A little," he admitted, warming his hands on his coffee mug. He wasn't really thirsty. "I know that Investigations isn't going to be put on the front lines immediately, but given the reach of these rockets, I get the feeling that it's not going to be safe anywhere we are while we're there. Not until everything is resolved."

"You've had combat training," Krista pointed out, though she looked worried. James didn't blame her. As close as she was to the Closson family as well, she had plenty of family to worry about.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," James assured her. "And yeah, I've had plenty of training. So don't you worry, okay?" While there was a part of him that wanted to know she actually cared enough to worry, he didn't want her to feel that stress and agony.

Krista looked down at her plate for a moment. "I'll try, but I think it's a lost cause. I don't want anything to happen to you… any of you," she added quickly. "You're one of my dearest friends. If anything happens…"

"It won't," James hastened to assure her. One of her dearest friends… well it was better than just being casual friends. But he felt a stab of jealousy wondering who the others were he was being counted among. "We'll go over there, teach these guys they can't mess with friends of Amestris, and be home before summer break."

"I hope so." Krista's hand reached out, squeezing his fingers.

Startled, James squeezed back. "Krista…" He had no right to ask, but if he didn't now, he may or may not ever have the chance. "When I get back, will you go out with me? I don't mean just as friends. I've liked you for a very long time, and I think you know that. I don't want to go off, knowing that while I'm gone, some other guy might win you over before I really get the chance."

For a moment, he thought he had said the wrong thing. Krista's expression went still. Then she squeezed his hand again, and leaned over the small table between them. "What do you think we're doing now?" she asked, smiling gently. "Yes. When you get back, we'll go on the most amazing date ever. But that means you have to come home." Then she leaned across the table, gracing his lips with a brief kiss.

It was like being hit with electricity, only much more pleasant. James leaned into it, regretting immediately the brevity of the contact. "I look forward to it," he said when he finally found his words again. Inside, he was doing handsprings and shouting for joy. On the outside, he hoped his expression was a little cooler than that. "Though any time spent with you is amazing."

**February 7****th****, 1984  
**

Cal hugged his family goodbye at home. He had to leave for the train before the kids went to school, and he didn't want them missing it just to see him off. So they had a better-than-usual family breakfast; which meant Alyse got up extra early to cook them all waffles –from scratch- with fresh fruit, maple syrup, and powdered sugar.

"Be careful," Alyse warned him softly as they hugged tightly.

Cal had already promised that several times in the past couple of days. Instead of reiterating it again, he kissed her warmly instead.

"I love you, Dad," Gloria's hug was almost as tight as Alyse's, though very different. There was a fear in that embrace that made Cal's heart ache, and he hadn't even left home yet.

"Love you too," he replied. "Don't you worry. We'll go over there, make everyone play nice, and be home in no time."

"Play nice?" Charlie snorted.

Cal looked over at his son as Gloria stepped back and, on impulse, ran his hand roughly through Charlie's already tousled hair.

"Hey!" Charlie put a hand up in defense a second too late. Then he sighed, shrugged, and hugged Cal too. "I'll hold you to that promise."

"Good." Cal smiled, then his voice got quieter for a moment. "Take good care of your mom and your sister. Okay? I know they like to say they can take care of themselves, and they can, but they'll worry about the stuff that doesn't need worrying. Keep them busy thinking about something besides war okay?"

"Was that permission to get into trouble?" Charlie asked.

Cal ruffled his hair again. "That is not what I meant and you know it!"

* * *

"You ready for this, Proteus?" the Tremor Alchemist commented as he hefted his sack over his shoulder and headed for the nearest train car.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Ted Elric replied, his emotions a conflicting mire of thrill and trepidation. It wasn't his first mission in the field. It wouldn't even be his first time getting shot at –he assumed they were going to be shot at- but it was definitely the largest engagement that he, or the rest of his team, had faced.

It was reassuring that he had been assigned to a four-alchemist squad, and that his partners for the time being would be the Tremor Alchemist, Larry Pullman, and their two female friends and year-mates, Clarina Harper and Vera Kollan –the Alabaster and Ultraviolet Alchemists, respectively.

"The girls said they'd save us seats," Pullman commented as they pushed on board with the others. The girls had boarded earlier. Ted wondered how they had managed to get in the first round of folks getting on the train and avoid the crush they were dealing with now.

"Good, or we'd be hanging off the back of the caboose," Ted commented as he scanned the crowd, looking for the contrast of short-dark hair coupled with pale-blond shoulder-length hair. Primarily, he was looking for Clarina's blond hair. He could pick out her near-platinum color in any crowd.

Besides, it took his mind off of the night before, when he had seen Krista give James a kiss goodbye after dinner on Uncle Ethan's porch. He suspected the two had thought they were alone. Ted had ducked his head back inside fast enough, and by the time anyone went out again, the two were gone.

A jealous monster snarled inside him, but it was conflicted, and he had to admit, he felt mildly guilty. Krista and James looked happy. He had always known his chances with Krista were, at best, a half-shot against his cousin, and even less considering all the other men out there that found Krista attractive.

There was also the matter of Clarina. Ted found his colleague just as attractive as he did Krista, and each in their own way, given their nearly opposite coloring and very different personalities. He found himself in the troubling position of liking them both, and dating neither of them.

Not that hanging out with the girls and Larry wasn't something he still did regularly, but it was all friendly. They were colleagues, and even among State Alchemists, fraternization was a cautious thing. Chain of command was so much more limited.

"Over here!"

Ted heard Clarina's voice at the same time he saw her smiling face as she hopped up and down slightly on her feet to be seen over the taller crowd of military men around them. It was so cute. Ted grinned and waved back. "There they are."

Larry grunted and the two of them pushed their way down the aisle. As promised, the girls had saved them seats. Even less of a surprise, Vera had made sure that Larry would sit next to her.

Fraternization rules or no rules, Larry and Vera were an item, and had been for almost as long as they'd both been State Alchemists. It didn't bother Ted any. After all, Trisha and Roy were both State Alchemists, and Aunt Sara and Uncle Franz had both been military, even if they were under different commands. Besides, he wasn't one to get ruffled about anyone's private life as long as it didn't interfere with his own.

A brief flash of Krista and James kissing last night came into his mind again, and Ted banished it. "Our angels of mercy," he grinned as he stowed his duffle above the seats, taking the one next to Clarina. "And here I thought we might have to stand all the way to Xing."

"It would still be better than marching," Vera commented with a dry chuckle, "Or riding in trucks across the desert."

"Instead we have hard seats and something resembling temperature control," Larry commented, sitting as close to Vera as he could get, but not quite close enough to put his arm around her shoulders, though Ted could tell he wanted to.

"I'm not complaining," Ted commented, smiling at Clarina. "For one thing, we've got good company, for another, I can almost assure you the food on this thing is better than what we'd get in a truck."

"Of that I have no doubt," Larry agreed. "And it'll be almost eight days before we get to the Capitol, so it's not like we've got much to do other than entertain ourselves."

"I've got that covered," Clarina smiled, reaching into her pocket and pulling out two decks of cards, and a portable chess set.

Ted laughed. "I'll play anyone here at chess. Loser pays for our first meal in Xing."

**February 8****th****, 1984**

"Somebody want to remind me why the hell I thought this was a good idea?" Edward grumbled as he was jounced, bumped, and otherwise painfully jostled as the former-military truck made its way through the rutted, ancient bit of road that ran through the desert between Amestris and Xing.

"Because you figured it was the way they would least expect us to come," Alphonse retorted from the driver's seat.

"And you wanted to go through the Xerxes ruins on the way," Winry reminded him from the front passenger seat. "You said it might help, though I'm not sure how."

"Call it a feeling," Ed retorted, wincing as they went over a particularly lumpy dune. "Or maybe a connection. I'm not sure. I just think it's a good idea."

"Hey, no one disagreed," Al reminded him patiently.

"And I'm certainly not one to disregard your instincts," Will replied from where he sat next to Ed, crammed in the smaller back seat of the truck. While there was plenty of cargo space in the back, no one had wanted to sit back there on the benches over this terrain. "Though I wish Ren could see it."

"Maybe we can drag Ren across the desert on the return trip," Ed suggested wryly. "She's better off with Franz and the military, and they with her."

"I know." Will sighed anyway. "If her family is anywhere in the vicinity, she'll find them faster than anyone, and she probably knows the back-politics on everything better than all of military intelligence combined. That doesn't make me feel better about this."

"Take your mind off it." Ed tossed Will a battered leather-bound notebook. "Work on memorizing that instead."

"What is it?" Will turned the little book over and then opened it. He whistled. "Are these your old rocketry notes?"

Ed nodded. "Well, close enough. It's the version I copied out in Amestrian. I figured no one in Europe would be able to read them that way. Easiest code ever. Once you've gotten through that though, we need to do a much more detailed comparison with what the Tiahuan Clan has built. We can't assume that they've developed the exact same technology, no matter how much it seems like they have." The one thing Ed did not want to do was fall into that trap. There was more than one way to do things. He had learned that the hard way many times.

"I do wish we had talked Urey into coming," Winry commented as Will buried his nose in the notebook.

Ed nodded. "Me too." Urey had voiced no interest in coming, despite the fact his alchemy, and his head for problem solving, would have been an asset. Not that he was in any physical condition for the hardships they were likely to be facing when they got out of the desert. Even that was colder than Ed was used to. It was almost cool, even by day. But then, maybe the challenge would have been good for him. Ed certainly thought so. "We'll tell him all about it when we get back. At least someone's watching Mal." The dog would have been far too much trouble, and too noticeable, to bring along.

"The smaller the group, the easier time we'll have sneaking through the enemy lines and avoiding detection," Al commented. "Besides, who would suspect three old fogies like us?"

"And one middle-aged college professor?" Ed snickered, glancing over at Will, who just rolled his eyes and kept reading. "Fair enough. And once we get into disguise, no one's really going to be able to tell we're not from _somewhere_ in Xing."

"I still can't imagine myself with black hair," Winry admitted.

"It's the easiest way to blend in." Ed had used dyes on his hair, and on hers, before. Using alchemy it was very easy to make it look completely natural. Winry had made a fabulous redhead once, though that undercover mission was decades ago. "That, and with the clothing we've got, we'll be nicely inconspicuous."

"It's a good thing my daughters keep up with Xingese fashion after all," Will commented from behind the book. It had been Kamika who took them shopping to make sure what they bought was something that folks their age might actually be seen wearing in Xing. Ed's awareness of Xingese fashion was mostly limited to what Old Bao had worn, what the Imperial family wore, and traditional monk attire. Not particularly useful in this case. Their clothes were much more traditional still, but that was only because Tiahuan was known for being traditionalist, old fashioned, and always at least ten to twenty years behind the times. That worked to their advantage.

"That it is," Ed agreed. "Now we've just got about five days to get our accents right."

**February 9****th****, 1984**

It was really hard to hold off a siege when being besieged without any real walls for protection. Tao Xian was not a boy. He was not even an untried military officer. The Xing Empire, for all its vast size and traditions, had never been a quiet, stable place. While his father's rule had been one of the _most_ stable, it had still been a tenuous peace in many areas. So Tao had cut his teeth dealing with the occasional minor uprisings or disputes in various outlying Provinces. With fifty clans, there was more than enough politics to go around. Though he had been out in the field far less since marrying Peina. As the heir, dying was not on his priority list. As a husband, and now a father, it was even further down the list.

No one had expected old fashioned, resistant to change Tiahuan to explode first.

_Peina, Taia, if they've harmed either of you, I swear there won't be one of them left alive when this is over._ Not if they hurt his wife, his six-year-old daughter, or the unborn child still in his wife's womb. He didn't think they would stoop so low as to outright assassinate the women of the family, but that might be a vain hope. Still, it was one he held on to. He was in command of the Imperial Army. If his father was dead, that made him Emperor…at least in presumption. At worst, it made him acting-Emperor. He preferred to think that his father, who was a fantastic fighter in his own right, was alive somewhere, just out of contact. Though he did not know who Tiahuan would be attempting to set up on his father's throne.

He hadn't heard from his younger brother either. Shan might be out there, and his wife. Meifen, his sister, may have escaped. Grandma Mei… he worried about her, but given her abilities as an alchemist and a fighter, he just couldn't imagine her lying dead somewhere when he had last seen her fighting with tenacious ferocity, long dark hair flying free of her braids and whipping through the air around her.

The Tiahuan military force seemed more interested in holding the city than crushing the remains of the military outright. That was, Tao assumed, because they did not actually have the forces to manage it. Attacking a city, mostly full of civilians, and causing mass destruction and chaos, was easier than taking the military head-on, even with projectile explosives. They had made a few pushes at Tao's position, but only enough to harry them and keep them cut off from helping the city, or getting supplies from it.

That was all right, Tao kept telling himself. They had provisions coming in from behind and, in a few days, as long as they kept the train tracks open… reinforcements. Trying to retake the city now, as they were, would be suicide.

They just had to hold out a few more days.

And he would keep telling himself that for as long as he had to.


	5. Chapter 5

**February 9****th****, 1984**

"So this is where it all started." Alphonse's voice held quiet awe as they walked through the empty streets of a ruined city.

"That's one way of looking at it," Ed agreed, not speaking much louder. "A city destroyed by alchemy." It was humbling to think about, particularly considering the many years it had taken him to unravel the full truth of his father's stories. Unraveling the truth and the lies about what had happened with Dante…and how his father had really first gained immortality. How the first philosopher stones created had destroyed cities.

So perhaps, here, in what was both the birthplace, in many ways, of the alchemy Ed knew, and –more directly- of their family line, he just felt there must be something here that could be useful to them.

"Maybe they knew something we didn't." Will commented, coming up beside them. "Where do we start?"

"Right at the heart of things." Ed moved forward without hesitation. He had been out here once before, though he hadn't had the opportunity to dig around much.

"How do you know where to go?" Winry asked as they all fell into step, moving through the ruins of towers and buildings, of what had once clearly been a thriving metropolis.

"I've been here once before," Ed reminded her. "And there was an old map in Dad's stuff. I used to look at it when I was a boy."

"And you still remember what was on it after all this time?" asked Winry wonderingly.

Ed nodded. "Some things are hard to forget."

Eventually they came to the remains of a palace, broken asunder, the once high ceiling open to the sky. Sun streamed in, and in the heat, only dust remained, and the occasional desert lizard shifting through the sand that had gathered and piled inside from centuries of sand storms.

"There." Ed pointed at the wall at the back of the room. "That's what I wanted to see."

They all came to stand below it. A transmutation circle, for lack of any other word, with signs and symbols that had once puzzled Ed, who had only understood about half of it. Now, having studied for decades, he recognized the rest. It was the proper combination of alchemical energy, of internal and nature, flowing together. There was little mystery to it now. But that didn't mean it did not stir something inside of him.

It made him think, and that was what he needed right now; A brilliant idea as to how to not only counter rocket science with alchemy, but to dismantle and destroy it. He doubted they could truly find a way to keep it from ever coming back. The best they could do was delay progress. But what they _could_ do was make that progress costly enough that it would give countries time to put in rules, regulations, requirements; the opportunity to demonstrate that anyone abusing that power would not be tolerated.

"Feeling brilliant?" Al asked.

"Getting there." Ed smiled at his brother. "You?"

"I was just wondering what would happen if you transmuted the fuel _inside_ a rocket while it was in mid-air," Al admitted. "Or if you transmuted the explosive inside the heads into something harmless before impact. It would take crazy precision if you didn't do it on the ground…"

"But if you could get them on the ground, without the enemy noticing, than it could definitely make for interesting surprises," Ed nodded thoughtfully, the gears in his head beginning to whir almost as fast as the ones that worked his auto-mail in combat.

"Could you manage that in large quantities or is it too pin-point specific?" Winry asked curiously, her lovely brow furrowed in thought.

"I can do anything on a large scale," Ed snickered, and he meant it. It would be a little tricky, but nothing he didn't think he and Al would have too much trouble with. "Though if we want to make it easier, we would do better to transmute all of their raw materials in the plants to something useless."

"Or their mines," Will suggested, jumping into the spontaneous brainstorming session. "Ruin the metals. They don't have a way to turn it back. They're old fashioned, and apparently not big fans of alchemy or alkahestry except when needed, so that would ruin them."

"That it would," Ed agreed, nodding as he began to pace eagerly back and forth in front of the ancient carving. "At which point, even if we can't manage to completely take out the factory, it'll be useless to them until they can get another source of the appropriate metals. I'd still rather take it out, but that's definitely a feasible part of the strategy. We'll have to see if we can find out where they're mining and what factory they use for processing their metals. We may need to hit that too; take them out at multiple levels of industry."

Al watched him with some amusement. "Looks like we found what we came for."

"Oh really?" Will asked.

Ed only smiled to himself as Winry nodded in agreement with Al. "All it takes," she said, "is a little inspiration."

**February 10****th****, 1984**

Soreness and pain cried out from every joint, every limb, even though she had lost conscious awareness of her limbs –which had fallen asleep from lack of proper positioning and bad blood flow longer ago than she could account for.

Darkness, fuzzy and suffocating, surrounded her, wrapped her in sweat and scratchy… something. Even though cold came through cracks somewhere nearby, it was warmer where-ever she was -bouncing and jostling along, clanging against the surface below her- than it was outside.

Slowly the fuzzy-headedness began to dissipate, and she remembered things, disjointed things. She remembered heat and loud screaming noises in the air. She remembered fighting, and unconsciousness, and then every so often reaching this muzzy state before having her nose stuffed into something and falling into darkness once more.

Only this time, the bouncing did not stop. And her head began to clear further. She was a captive, in the back of a truck. The faint scent of straw and old manure told her it was a farm hauling truck of some kind, though she could see little, except from the dim light coming through the same cracks and slats that occasionally let in icy blasts of winter cold.

She was alone.

She was not _supposed_ to be alone!

Burning thirst returned, as did gut-ripping hunger. Wiggling until she fell over, her hands and feet tied behind her, she managed to get a little feeling back into them. And oh how that burned!

Her family… captured. She remembered faces, and names. _Run, Grandma Mei!_ A voice echoed in her head. Her grandson's voice –Michio's voice- as he and Mao darted off down another hallway, trying to lead the invaders away from Mei, and Jiu, and the rest of the women and children of the family.  
Mei went with them to protect them. Not to protect herself.

_I should have taken better care of myself._

She did not think she was terribly wounded. Her aches mostly seemed to be from being tossed around in the back of the horrid truck. There had to be some way out of the truck. If she could just escape, maybe the rest were captured, in trucks with this one. It was a better hope than that they might be dead. Mei just needed time to come up with a plan for getting out, especially with her hands tied. She had no way to make a transmutation circle. Oh how she wished, just for a moment, that she had Edward and Alphonse's talent for alchemy without circles.

The trucked stopped suddenly, and Mei half flew, half rolled, across the back of the truck and slammed into the front of it with a loud clang. Cursing inside her head, she tried to lie still as she heard a door open, and grumbling outside. If she pretended she was still unconscious, maybe they wouldn't drug her again. She knew the unpleasant tang in her nose now that she had regained some of her senses. It was a fairly common drug for knocking someone out. Not at all rare, and very cheap, but effective.

The back gate opened with a screech of metal in need of oiling, and someone leapt up into the echoing cavern. The blinding light of day seared through her eye-lids.  
Mei remained still as the man bent over her, handling her roughly as he looked her over, apparently for wounds, and checked her pules.

::She isn't dead,:: he called up to the front.

::Good. Dose her while you're back there,:: the guy in the front called back in response. ::We're late, and the last thing we need is our delivery remembering she's got a mind of her own.::

Mei didn't dare struggle, much as her mind cried out to fight back, as a filthy rag was stuffed up against her nose.

As she went back into unconsciousness, Mei did her best to hold on to one simple thought. _I have got to find a way to break out of here._

* * *

::Minx, you're going to be the death of me.::

Minxia paused at the top of the hill to look back down at Thrakos, who was scrambling up behind her, panting heavily and looking exasperated. Okay, so the hill was more of a cliff, and they were both wearing nearly fifty pounds in gear each. ::What's the matter? City living making you soft? Where's your sense of adventure?:: she responded in the same language he had slipped into, which was Cretan, his native tongue.

::Back in camp, with the artifacts,:: Thrakos admitted, grunting as he pulled himself up the last few feet. ::I can't believe I thought this was a good idea.::

::Well it was, until the car broke down.:: Minxia had to admit that, maybe, it had been a bit rash to run off towards the Imperial City when the news had come across the radio, two days after it had first happened, that it was under attack and her family was missing, possibly presumed dead, and in at the very least in terrible danger. Her cousin Tao was holding out on a hill South-West of the city, but that was all she knew. No word on anyone else, not even her little brother.

She hadn't been able to stand it. And it had taken very little to requisition a vehicle that could handle some rough terrain, and wend their way out of the wilderness of the dig site and onto the highway. They were days from the city by car, too far East to make the trip as quickly as she had wanted.

They hadn't made it more than two days when a winter storm had stranded them in the little village of Kanahua for nearly another two days, dumping frigid winter rains and flooding the local stream. After that, the car wouldn't start. Using the time to scan radios, and television, for any further news, Minxia had discovered rumors that the Tiahuan had captives in a truck convoy, heading north-east (more north than east) from the Imperial City, back towards Tiahuan Province.

That was all she needed to talk Thrakos into continuing their trip, first catching a ride with a local who lived nearly a day in the right direction, and then hiking into the next town, buying supplies, and trekking it north on foot. It was the fastest way across country that had almost no roads, as it started to get mountainous, and if her timing was right, Minxia thought they could hit the right road ahead of the caravan in question.

::I know we have to hurry,:: Thrakos reached out and gave her shoulder a squeeze as he caught his breath. ::But it's starting to get dark. We need to think about setting up a camp. It's going to be cold tonight.::

::You think it's cold every night here,:: Minxia pointed out.

::If I can see my breath, it's cold,:: Thrakos countered.

Of course, Creta was far warmer than this most of the year, so Minxia couldn't blame Thrakos for being more aware of the cold. At least their camping gear included warm sleeping bags, which they had been zipping together and huddling in together, for the sake of warmth.

::Fair enough.:: Minxia looked around the top of the ridge they had just climbed. It did have the advantage of being a good vantage point for the valley below them. She could see for miles. There was even a town in the distance, though it looked to be at least two or three hours more on foot. It would be dark by then. ::Let's camp here,:: she suggested. ::It looks like there's a windbreak down in these trees, and no one will see a fire.:: Not that it really mattered, she supposed, as long as no one thought they were anything other than locals. ::I'll cook if you set up camp.::

::Deal.:: Thrakos followed her down the ridge to the flat area she had spotted, which –despite the fact that the trees here were missing a lot of leaves- had several green conifers, and was reasonably clear of debris, leaving a nice flat rock area that would be perfect for safe fires.

Minxia pulled out their food as Thrakos set up the tent they had brought with them, laid in the sleeping bags, and fetched water. By the time he was done, she had a fire going –no alchemy needed- and put water on to boil. In relatively short order they had a steaming noodle soup, and hot tea.

::It's all about tea here,:: Thrakos sighed as he sipped from the cup she had made. ::I don't suppose we have anything to sweeten this with?::

:What, you don't like green tea plain?:: Minxia teased gently as she cuddled up next to him, grateful that she had packed warm sweaters for the trip. Even though it had been warmer at the dig site, it was more like central Amestrian fall than the heat she might have otherwise expected. ::Sorry, it's what we've got. Maybe we can pick up something for it in that town tomorrow. Or get a real breakfast.::

::Something other than rice cereal?:: Thrakos asked, almost pleadingly. ::I'm getting a little tired of rice.::

::You are _so_ spoiled.:: Minxia leaned over and kissed his cheek. ::And clearly you haven't adopted a Xingese spirit yet. Rice is the most amazing food in the world! You know that, right?::

::Hopeless.:: Thrakos shook his head, then gulped down the tea, probably because it was hot more than the flavor. Minxia happened to like the flavor.

::Yes, you are.:: Minxia finished her own tea, and then stood to bank the fire. ::We should get some sleep. The earlier we're up the better. We can't be sure the convoy isn't driving at night.::

::That's true,:: Thrakos said, watching her until she finished, then he stood and joined her in the tent, zipping the door closed behind them to keep out the cold air as much as possible. It was a good, winter-lined tent.

Minxia turned and began to undress, but she had just gotten her sweater off and was reaching for her more appropriate night clothes when arms snaked around her from behind, and Thrakos' warm skin pressed against hers as he pulled her back up against his bare chest. It felt good, and warm, if surprising.

::We could sleep like this,:: Thrakos suggested, nuzzling the back of her neck.

Minxia felt a slight shudder run through her; not unpleasant, though he had caught her off guard. ::Thrakos…::

::It'd be warmer,:: he urged, though from the tone in his voice, she knew that was not the first thing on her boyfriend's mind. ::Sharing body heat is much more effective this way.::

There was truth there, though it wasn't her primary concern. ::Can you control yourself?::

::Do I have to?:: he asked, his voice dropping slightly in register. He didn't pull her any tighter, but his grip was firm. ::Please, Minx. We're finally alone. There's no one to pry, to care, to spread a scandal. Besides, what scandal would there really be? I've been in love with you forever.::

::And what happens when we get back?:: she asked, turning in his arms to look him evenly in the eyes. ::You've got work to do, and I've got work to do, and they're almost never in the same place these days. Who knows how long it will be before I even make it to Pylos again? Who even knows if we'll get out of _this_ mess?::

::Oh we will,:: Thrakos replied. ::At the moment, we may not even be on the right trail. But that's not the point. I love you, Minx. When we get out of here… I want you to be my wife.::

::What?:: Somewhere below her, her stomach and jaw sank through the mountain below them. Stunned, Minxia tried to find words. ::But what about-::

::I don't want you to give up your work,:: Thrakos responded quickly, ::But I've been waiting for you for a long time. I don't want to see you every few months, or maybe only a couple of times a year. I want you with me, where I can see you, and talk to you, and not feel like a letch because I can't keep my eyes and thoughts off of you.::

::I… this is kind of sudden,:: Minxia replied, trying not to stammer. She was almost angry at him for springing this on her now, in the middle of the woods, while they were trying to locate a caravan full of her kidnapped family members.

::I know. My timing is terrible, but this moment… it's hard to get you all to myself,:: Thrakos replied. ::You don't have to answer me now, but I know you love me. I'm just saying, I don't want to wait until we're old and gray to finally settle down enough to enjoy life together while we can.::

::Fair enough.:: Minxia willed her heart to steady and her breathing to slow. _He just proposed. At least, it sounded like he proposed. _And while she certainly did not want any other man, Minxia couldn't bring herself to feel thrilled or flattered or even surprised. She knew she would feel those things later, perhaps, when her mind was no so much elsewhere.

As to the problem of tonight… well they had been dating on and off –mostly for scheduling difficulties that she had to admit were her doing- for roughly eleven years. ::It would be warmer,:: she agreed, wrapping her arms around his lean-muscled waist. ::Let's get some sleep, okay?:: Anything else could wait for morning, sunlight, and a clear head.

::All right,:: he replied, looking disappointed only for a moment before the expression was covered, and Thrakos knelt, taking them both down to the bedding. They broke apart long enough to crawl in, and then snuggled together tightly.

Minxia smiled, and kissed him warmly in wordless apology before she cuddled up against his side, and in his arms. ::You're right,:: she said. ::This is nice.::


	6. Chapter 6

**February 11****th****, 1984**

"How many of them do you think there are?" Minxia asked in a soft whisper as she peered around the corner at the four trucks that were parked outside the gas station across the street. They definitely belonged to the Tiahuan Clan, even though two were military style vehicles and two appeared to be farm trucks for hauling livestock or supplies. They were mostly enclosed, and old, but serviceable.

The people on the street were mostly avoiding them, eyes downcast ever since the one guy they had seen who tried to tell them what he thought of their actions at the capital was beaten down in the street. Minxia thought he was lucky they hadn't just shot him. This was Qin Province, and Minxia remembered that the Qin Clan was one of the smaller clans on the Tiahuan border. Fighting with them over their potential annexation would only result in a lot of deaths. They were not particularly militant.

"I'd say at least twenty," Thrakos replied. They had slipped into Amestrian. Minxia wasn't sure whether it was safer to claim to be a local or a tourist at this point. Right now, it didn't seem to be safe either way. "There's two driving each truck, and I count about twelve soldiers as escort."

"It's got to be them," Minxia replied. Who would need that big of an escort for prisoners outside of the Imperial family? The two closed vehicles would hold people so easily. You couldn't see in. Her suspicions were confirmed when two soldiers opened the back of one of the trucks and carried in a pile of discount rice balls. _Probably better than some prisoners might get. At least they're being fed. _Minxia could imagine how terrified her littler cousins were, not sure where they were going or if they would even live. "If they're planning to use them as hostages, we have time." They would have killed her family outright if they just wanted them dead. At least, that was her hope. Minxia wasn't exactly used to thinking in terms of a political and military coup.

"We still need a plan," Thrakos pointed out. "We can't just bust in there. They're armed. Your alchemy against twenty guys… you're good, but I wouldn't make that bet."

"I wouldn't either," Minxia admitted. "We'll have to find a way to follow them if we can't think of something here. If we don't get them free before they hit the fighting lines on the Tiahuan Border, we might as well write them off."

"You'd give up?" Thrakos looked surprise.

"Of course not," Minxia sniped. "But at that point our chances of survival drop even further."

"This doesn't leave us with a lot of options." Thrakos shook his head, and they both ducked back behind the corner. "They haven't left the trucks alone once."

"But at night they can't possibly all be sleeping in the trucks." Minxia thought furiously. There had to be a way to rescue someone, anyone. She wanted them all, but she would settle for anything they could manage as a start. She didn't even know who was in there. "So if we wait until they stop for the night, we can catch them off guard and bust open a truck."

"If they're drugged or bound, it's not going to be a fast escape," Thrakos pointed out. "We'll need to sneak in, quietly. If we bust in they'll hear us and there's no way we'll get away fast enough. Didn't you say Tao's wife is pregnant?"

Minxia nodded, and reevaluated the plan even as it was trying to form in her head. Peina couldn't run. The kids would try. If they were drugged though, there would be the problem of hauling everyone at a far enough distance to go to ground and hide before they were discovered. Pursuit would make escape nearly impossible in that instance. "So… we follow them if they leave, and catch them at night. We may just have to take whoever we can. I don't want to have to pick between family members, but if we don't try, than no one will make it. I do not think they intend to actually let everyone live. They went in shooting." And the last radio reports still listed Emperor Mao as missing. No one seemed to think he was captured. The Tiahuan had not yet put out any kind of announcement or ransom concerning the rest of the family. And no one, anywhere, mentioned Michio.

Minxia actually found that last reassuring. Hopefully Tiahuan had no idea that her brother had been in the Imperial City. She fully trusted in his ability to get out of the way in case of danger.

"It's as good a plan as we've got," Thrakos sighed. "How are we going to keep up with a convoy of trucks?"

"I think we should see how much those cost." Minxia pointed down the street, to where a farmer from some apparently remote, or rough, location, had a pair of mountain ponies hooked to a cart. "They won't make motor noises, and if we rescue anyone who's impaired, they won't all have to walk."

"Fair enough. Though I hope you have a magic wallet in your pocket somewhere."

"Better than that," Minxia grinned as she took a deep breath, then stepped away from the wall and walked toward the farmer set up at the edge of the small market. "I have Imperial credit."

* * *

"This doesn't look good." Cal grimaced as he surveyed the smoke and wreckage of the walls of the Imperial City from the vantage point of the top of Tao's Hill. At least, that was how he was thinking of it for now. "The city has definitely looked better."

"That's an understatement," Franz said grimly. "If Central looked like this it would be a national disaster. I can't believe they managed this much without opposition."

::The Provinces they marched through were subjected without a fight. They were too terrified by their weapons,:: Tao Xian informed them. His Amestrian was decent, but he preferred his own tongue in discussions of more complex topics, like warfare. Cal didn't mind. His Xingese was pretty good. ::We've only found out recently that they required radio black-outs and news control on all of them. They are smaller Clans, weaker ones who would not want to bring that kind of power down on their heads. Survival is often more important than national pride.:: There was a wry twist in his tone at that last. ::A couple of them apparently sided more willingly.::

"Seeing the results, I can't really blame them," Cal replied, much as he hated to admit it. He wanted to be angrier with the people who hadn't alerted the capitol. But he knew how much trouble it had been to get information from areas of Amestris during the Drachman invasion. People just wanted to survive, and sometimes they were cut off from communication. It wasn't that hard to cut off phone lines or even television lines. Not everyone had television either. "How many people have you managed to get back in to assess the situation?"

::Only a handful,:: Tao replied. ::They're watching the walls, and trade has come to a stand-still except from their own supply lines to the north. But they've mostly left the locals to fend for themselves as long as they don't try and fight the soldiers in the streets. They haven't started rebuilding anything.::

Cal felt a sting of sympathy at the look of pain in Tao's eyes. This was his Empire, as much as his father's. It was his home. His people were hurting. His wife and child and family were missing. His father may well be dead. Tao didn't look like he had slept much in the days since the attack. "So what's our best plan of attack, General?" he looked at Franz, whose eyes hadn't yet left the city walls. There was keen calculation behind those glasses.

"We have two missions here," Franz replied. "To retake the city, and to find anyone of importance who may still be here and alive. That is going to require some intelligence regarding who is still on your side, Xian. If half the nobility that were in the palace are quailed as easily as the areas this army walked through to get here, than taking back the city will only be one of the smallest problems we have. "

Tao nodded grimly. ::How do you propose we accomplish these things? We have been working out a strategy for retaking the city, but it relied heavily on seeing how many men you brought, and what types of forces.::

::We will look over that together,:: Franz agreed, slipping into Xingese. ::As for the second, we have brought another specialist.::

::Who?:: Tao looked at him, curious.

::Me.::

Cal turned his face just in time to see the woman Tore had escorted from the back of the train caravan.

Tao's face lit up, and in moments, his arms were wrapped tightly around Ren. ::Aunt Ren. It's so good to see you.::

::It is good to see you safe,:: Ren replied, squeezing her nephew until Cal wondered if he would hear ribs popping next. ::I have some ideas as to where we might, if we are lucky, find anyone who escaped. Before, when Mao was new on the throne, there were places we had prepared for hiding in these types of situations. I do not know how well stocked they are now, but it is possible that anyone in hiding will be in one of them. They were family secrets, and not all of them are places I think you know of.::

::Then any news at all would be welcome on that score,:: Tao admitted. ::Our family has always had an escape plan, and the only reason it worked was most of our guards were still loyal. This… I did not foresee.::

::None of us did,:: Ren pointed out. ::It is not something over which you should torment yourself with what-ifs. It has happened. Now we will fix it. But first, we must make sure we rescue our family.::

"You won't be able to take much cover," Franz commented.

"You don't have to be so cold about it," Tore said, looking a bit shocked by Franz' coolness on the subject. Cal was nearly as startled. This was family they were talking about. Surely Franz, of all people, understood that.

::No, he's right,:: Ren replied, looking not at all offended. ::I'd be noticed, and we would have to move more slowly. No one knows I am here yet. If we are smart, it will stay that way.::

Cal nodded, though he didn't like the idea of her going alone. "Choose two men to go with you," he suggested. "A party of three shouldn't be too much trouble. How long will it take you to check these spots?"

::A couple of days I think.:: Ren pondered that. Cal found it interesting how easily she slipped back into speaking entirely in Xingese. Over the decades in Amestris, her accent had faded to only a very slight lilt normally, hardly noticeable. But the shift back was so natural, it seemed rather exotic. _No wonder Will fell for her. _::I will make my choices,:: she continued, unaware of Cal's thoughts. ::They need not be alchemists. I can handle that well enough, and you will need them in the battle that will be needed to retake the city.::

"We will need them," Franz agreed. "There are ways alchemists can be useful in deflecting and neutralizing the weaponry we'll be facing."

Cal just nodded. He and Tore and the others had spent a lot of time listening to Franz –a bit odd he had to admit- outline several very functional strategies for the alchemists of various talents to destroy ordinance in the air or on the ground. On the ground was far easier, but required getting close to, if not behind, enemy lines. Half of those strategies had Sara's creativity written all over them, though Franz never mentioned her name as he laid out his plans. Still, none of the alchemists in that meeting had balked at being told how to do their jobs by a non-alchemist general. Not when Cal and Tore both vocally approved. They were good plans, and while some of them were daring, none of them put the alchemists in more risk than was necessary to get the job done. War was risky no matter what. That didn't mean they had to go on suicide missions. None of these were like that. At least, nothing that did not qualify as a last ditch effort if everything went terribly wrong.

"Hey," Tore asked as they stared out at the city walls. "Why haven't they just shot you guys on this hill to hell with these rockets of theirs? Aren't they in range?"

Tao shook his head. ::We're not entirely sure. So far we believe that the accuracy of their system still decreases quickly the farther the range, despite the destructive power. This is fortunate for us, as they seem to have to engage at a range that puts their front men at risk to fire it with accuracy. I am sure they would not hesitate to wipe us out, but to do so from here would destroy enough of the train lines they would damage their own supplies eventually.::

Cal watched a look of, not quite maniacal glee, but definitely thoughtful and possibly vindictive pleasure, crawl across Franz' face. It was a disturbing expression on the man.

Franz nodded. "Then we should surround the city, and reverse the siege on them. They took the city. We'll see how long they can hold it."

**February 12th, 1984**

Nine days after his birthday, Edward strolled down a street in a little Xingese town, hair dyed black and pulled back, but not braided, in a much more Xingese style, with Winry and Al beside him. He had to avoid doing double-takes every time he looked at either of them. Neither had dyed their hair dark before, and he had to remember that when he looked for them. Alchemy did the job well. In Xingese attire, appropriate to their age, they could pass for citizens of the Xing Empire, as long as they claimed a Province that roughly matched the right look. Ren had suggested they pretend to be from Ruasan Province, which was far away to the south-east, nowhere near the areas they would be traveling through, and not densely populated. They also tended to be quiet and keep to themselves so the occasional traveler was a curiosity, but not known for making trouble. Mostly they were ignored beyond tourism. Also, their accent was not widely known, and they tended to speak slightly slower than other dialects, which helped with the fact that Winry was not as fluent a speaker as Al and Ed.

That worked perfectly to their advantage. Especially as they walked through the open-air market purchasing supplies they would need on their drive across the northern Provinces towards Tiahuan Province, which was almost directly north, and slightly east, of the Capitol City, with only a couple of smaller provinces between them.

::This is kind of nice,:: Al commented, smiling as he paid an old vegetable seller for some little onions and some mushrooms. They had left Will guarding the truck.

::We should take more vacations like this,:: Winry agreed, leaving out the fact that this particular trip was not a vacation. Practice at guarding their tongues had become habit over the last couple of days in the truck, when they had done their best to try and stay in their Xingese personas for at least several hours at a time.

::Preferably in warmer weather,:: Ed commented, not quite griping, but wishing that the Tiahuan could have chosen a warmer season for an insurrection. This northern part of Xing was almost as cold as Drachma. Thankfully, there wasn't snow, but the wet in the air did make his ports ache. One good thing about the cold though, no one commented about his wearing long pants, a long-sleeved coat, and gloves. He had gone for a more moderate black-and-brown. The goal was not to stand out here.

Especially when he remembered that somewhere around here, there were members of the Hashman Syndicate, and their associates. Half of the reason he had decided to come this way –something discussed only in the privacy of HQ— was the fact that they might get more information about their whereabouts and what they were up to by coming through this way and incognito. Attention would be on the large military force to the South, not on a small truck of elderly site-seers with apparently really bad timing.

Al picked up a newspaper at the next stand.

Ed itched to get his hands on it but he waited. They would have plenty of time to peruse it for information on the drive to the next village. They were not planning to stay long in any one spot. They did not want to be memorable. Still, he was dying for more information of what was going on down near the Capitol, and along the borders of Tiahuan and their neighboring provinces which, they were hearing babbled about everywhere, were being annexed, Tiahuan said, for the good of preserving Xingese culture and history. There was apparently a lot of rhetoric going around about saving the old ways and not driving Xing to its own demise.

Funny, Ed thought, given they were the ones employing new destructive technology to do so. Even wilder were the reports of what the rockets could do, and the rumors flying about what had happened to the Imperial family. Whoever had taken over the palace had not made any public statements in that regard; only that they were now in control and that the Imperial City was under new management, as was the empire. So far a lot of the Provinces had not reacted, or were in an outrage, but it was not an organized outrage… yet.

Most of the rumors put them as dead. Some hostages. There was one vague rumor that they were on trucks heading for Tiahuan instead of being kept captive in the palace. Who was where was not clear. The only thing they knew for certain was that Tao was alive, with his Generals, set up outside the city in a defensive position. There wasn't even word yet about the Amestrian military.

Ed supposed that was a good thing, since it meant that the Tiahuan either did not yet know, or were trying to quash information. In an empire as large as Xing, Ed knew that information control would be a very difficult game to play. He wasn't placing bets on the people in the palace.

::I think this will be more than plenty for a tasty dinner,:: Winry commented as they gathered up a few more supplies at another little market, and turned to head back up the street. They did have more than enough for a week of travel, now carefully tucked away though bought in small quantities so it would not appear that they were stocking up instead of planning a little meal in the kitchens common in many rental spaces here. Apparently cooking your own food on vacation was normal.

Ed found that convenient. ::Yes, let's. I can't wait to see what you do with this stuff.::

::Of course you can't,:: Winry smiled knowingly at him. ::These northern ingredients are said to have delicious flavor.::

* * *

Michio was sweating heavily as he sat back, flat on his backside, and wiped the sweat from his forehead before it could turn to chill wetness in the cold winter air. He was grateful it wasn't snowing, but the cold plus his use of medicinal alchemy in this situation did take it out of him.

His Uncle Mao was not faring well. Despite the days he had been held alive, healing was a slow process from the severity of wound he had suffered, and Michio was fully aware that most of what his healing attempts had done so far was control the fever somewhat and ward off any infections to the injuries. _Thank goodness for that, even so.  
_  
Michio took a drink from the water bottle he had refilled that morning at a nearby fresh water spring that fed into the stream. Then he made a meal out of noodles he had just softened in water –an odd texture, especially cold- and a can of tiny Xingese mushrooms. He had managed to get several spoonfuls into Mao, but only when his uncle was conscious. He spent more time making sure his uncle drank any water Michio could get into him, aided him in moving out of the cave enough for any personal needs, and otherwise kept him warm and dry and as comfortable as it was possible to in the small cave.

Unfortunately, it was getting colder, and he was no closer to getting real help. He had not been able to sneak back into the city in three days. Soon they would be out of food again. Michio wasn't looking forward to rationing that, but he could do without if he had to, as long as he kept his uncle alive until he could get him real help. Any attempts to solicit help on his visits had been met with suspicion, though not downright hostility.

Michio was beginning to think he was going to have to take more drastic action, and he was wishing he had chosen a little sooner to focus on the medical field. His original plans had been more towards philosophy and history, but he had learned alchemy, like his other siblings, almost as naturally as breathing. It was hard not to, living in a family with two alchemists for parents, and one of those a doctor who practiced alchemy on a daily basis. Still, he had never been as nearly-obsessed with it as Minxia had often been.

Minx. Michio knew his sister was somewhere to the East. He hoped, at least, that the Tiahuan had no idea that she was in the country. He was half afraid she would do something foolish instead of finding the first way out of Xing.

For drastic actions, he wasn't sure what he was going to do. Risking the city repeatedly would only get him noticed at some point, and it was not solving the problem. His uncle needed a real, more experienced doctor, and then he needed to be delivered safely somewhere before his survival was announced to the world.

That was, if he survived. Michio was not certain how long he could keep Mao going, given the slow progress regarding any healing, even with the alchemical boost. If his mother had been here, or Grandma Mei… maybe he could be saved. Any alkahestrist worth his practice should be able to do it. But if the Tiahuan were not fond of alchemists of any kind, Michio suspected they were all lying as low as he was, if they hadn't fled outright.

He might have fled towards the border himself, if he thought Mao could have managed any kind of trek. As it was, he was going to have to come up with a better plan, and soon.

* * *

In the darkness, the convoy was only visible because it was parked under a streetlamp at the outer most edge of the village below. It was a deep-clouded night, with no stars or moon. Thankfully, it had not snowed or doused them in freezing rain. Which meant, Minxia hoped, that it was the perfect moment to attempt a rescue. After following cautiously behind the convoy for all of a day, she was sure that there were people in those trucks; at the very least one of them, but likely both.

They had crossed into another Province, though Minxia could not entirely recall which it was on the map. She thought it might be Yao, but she couldn't be sure. At the moment it did not matter to her as long as it wasn't Tiahuan, though she did wonder at the route they were taking. It was not as direct as she might have expected. Perhaps that was because they expected pursuit along the shortest route.

"So when we go in, we slip around back, use a little alchemy on the locks, if it's necessary, and start moving people into the darkness and then around to the cart." It wouldn't do them any good if the enemy found out they had transportation, and followed them to it. _The enemy… I've never had one of those before._ Minxia shivered.

"It'll be all right," Thrakos assured her, one hand resting on her shoulder. "I can probably pick the locks if you can't get them open."

"You know how to pick a lock?" she turned and gave Thrakos a suspicious look.

"Of course I can," he replied with a shrug. "It's a skill I've had since high school."

"You can explain this to me later," Minxia replied—

-as an explosion went off below them.

Spinning around, Minxia almost fell out from behind the tree that hid them as she stared at the inferno that was all that remained of the first truck. "What the hell?"

Against the blaze, Minxia saw a silhouette, very briefly, of a woman that stumbled, stood up, and staggered into the trees as the men piled out of the cheap diner in which they had been eating –all but the two who had been sitting in the cabin of the truck that had just gone up. "We've got to get to her…" she started to slide down the hillside.

"Minx, wait!" Thrakos called, then she could hear him behind her. "The others!"

But the men were boiling out of the place now, shouting for water, a hose, anything, and they had surrounded the second truck, which had not been caught in the blast. One of them was hopping into the driver's seat as Minxia hit the ground and crouched in a bush. They were still forty yards away. No one had seen her, or Thrakos.

"We'll never get close," Thrakos whispered in her ear, one hand firmly grabbing her arm from behind as he caught up with her. "Let's go around and find the woman who escaped first."

Minxia swallowed. Her heart told her to rush out there and take them on, but Thrakos spoke sense. "Fine. Let's go." She slipped behind the nearest bush, and followed the local wildlife down out of the light and chaos, until the shouting started to die down, before she dared to dart across the road. Thrakos was right behind her.  
Heart pounding, Minxia did not feel better as they made it into the bushes. Now they were on the side of the road the men were likely searching first. _Stay calm, Minx. This is an adventure… a real one… like the wreck… but without drowning and with a dozen or more guys who would be happy to shoot you on sight. Sure, no big deal. You're an Elric… _

"This way."

Minxia found her hand grabbed and Thrakos leading the way for several seconds, until she felt a twinge of annoyance. "I don't need to be led," she pulled her hand out of his. "You seem awfully calm you know."

"I got in trouble more than you did in school, remember?" Thrakos flashed her a mischievous grin that she could barely make out in the darkness. It was near perfect black under the trees. "Ah, here we are."

It took Minxia a moment to realize that Thrakos had found a small animal trail of some sort, though a couple of nearby branches looked as if they had been slammed through in a hurry. "Our trail. Let's find her." Whether it was Grandma Mei, Aunt Jiu, her cousin, or one of the wives, she'd be happy to see them. Minxia doubted it was either of her brothers' wives though. Neither would leave the children, no matter what.

Minxia swallowed, and took the risk of calling out in a voice not too much more than a whisper, and purposefully in Amestrian, as they moved away from the fire at the top of the ridge. "Grandma? Aunt Jiu? Meifen? It's Minx! Are you out here?" There was no way she was an imposter, not speaking in Amestrian all the way out here, and she knew her whole family understood the language well enough to get that much.

There was silence in the woods, except for the crashing in the distance that was slowly coming nearer, as the Tiahuan men stopped focusing entirely on the fire, and some started searching the brush.

They kept moving, and Minxia tried again. "Hello? Grandma? It's just me and my friend, Thrakos… remember the one I told you about? We heard what happened at the dig. Hello?"

The woman appeared in front of them so fast Minxia almost fell over in shock… as they almost ran her over! "Not so loud," the familiar voice of Grandma Mei said, even more quietly than Minxia had thought possible. "We must keep moving."

As she turned, Minxia could just see how awkwardly her grandmother was hobbling. For Mei to be moving so badly, she must be in bad shape. "Here," she hurried and ducked under her grandmother's arm. "We have a cart, back around to the North, with horses. Let's cut north-east, they'll never expect it since that's the way they're heading. We can cut across the road ahead of them while they're down here, and be at the cart before they ever think of looking south, since they saw you go this way."

"Not a bad plan," Thrakos commented as he came up on the other side of Mei. "Let me help, uh… ma'am…" he offered.

There was a harrumph from Grandma Mei, but she nodded. "Yes, thank you. I had hoped that I would have time to free the others, but they had me locked up alone, and they came out too quickly. Too quickly."

"It's not your fault, Grandma," Minxia replied as they did just what she had suggested, cutting sharply to the north-east, and she just prayed that she was right, and they were too busy looking the way they were sure Mei would have gone –back towards the last town, and the Imperial City- to realize they'd been duped. "Too bad they won't leave them unguarded now. Who's in the other truck?"

"Almost everyone, I believe," Mei replied as they limped along as quickly as she could manage. "They have Jiu, Meifen, Peina, and Xenia, as well as Taia and Bano. When they put us on the trucks, no one looked badly hurt, but in Peina's condition, they can't be treating her well enough."

"We'll keep following them," Thrakos suggested, and Minxia wanted to kiss him right there… but restrained herself. There would be time later. "There may still be another opportunity to free them."

Mei nodded. "Have you heard about anyone else?" Mei asked.

"Tao is alive," Minxia told her. "He's with the army, outside the city. They've grouped up there and I think they're going to try and retake the city."

"Of course they are," Mei replied, as if to think otherwise was ridiculous. "Good. What about Mao? Or Shan?"

"We've heard nothing other than rumors," Minxia replied, feeling a twinge of worry all over again. "Not that we get nearly enough of anything resembling news, and we haven't had much chance to listen to the radio the last couple of days, but I think if they had announced anyone was truly dead, it would have been all over the towns we've been through."

"True enough," Mei replied, and Minxia could see her grandmother's brow furrowing in the darkness, her eyes glinting slightly as they came up near the very edge of the farther side of the town. Minxia didn't even know its name. She wasn't sure she really ever wanted to at this point. It would be a place of memories she would probably rather forget later. "So we get to your cart, hide out until they are ready to move on, and make a move at the first available opportunity."

Thrakos snickered, and Minxia glanced over her grandmother's shoulders at him. "Sorry," he said. "It just reminds me of a conversation we had a couple of days ago."

"Does it now?" Mei glanced between them, and smiled.

The group stopped at the first large stand of bushes near the road outside the reach of any of the town's lights. Only when they had carefully staked it out did they dare to dart across. There was no way to see the trucks from this side –they were blocked by a low hill- but that was good for their escape even if not for their panicked curiosity that cried out to know if everyone else was all right. They were _right there_.

Minxia stifled her impatience, and slowly they made their way up the steeper hill on the south side, which was almost a cliff behind most of the town, and finally made it to where Minxia had tied the horses and cart earlier. Thankfully they were still there and unharmed. _Good, at least no one knows we're here._

"Can you see anything?" Minxia asked as Thrakos let go of Mei's arm and crept to the edge, to the trees they had been behind less than an hour before. She helped her grandmother get up into the cart, and get seated on the pile of blanket-covered straw they had in the back. They hadn't bothered with setting up tents tonight. Not when they anticipated needing to move quickly.

Thrakos nodded. "They've got the fire out. There are still about ten guys standing around, and a bunch of town's people it looks like. They're dressed a little differently. They're arguing about something but I can't quite make out what. They're not yelling loud enough."

Mei settled herself in the cart, and took the canteen of water Minxia offered, taking a long, slow drink. She seemed somehow tired all of a sudden, and old. Minxia knew her grandmother was old, but she was always so energetic –much like Grandpa Ed- that she never seemed as old to Minxia as she was. "They probably want the soldiers to get out of town," she commented softly. She winced.

"Are you all right?" Minxia felt guilty. She hadn't even stopped to see what wounds her grandmother had. What if they were serious?

Mei nodded. "I will be. They had me bound, for days. The pain is just feeling returning in my arms and legs…the usual aches that come with bouncing around an unpadded truck for days."

"Dehydration?" Minxia suggested as she watched Mei drain more of the water.

Mei nodded. "I was fed next to nothing, and not watered much more. They bound my hands and feet together behind my back. I am sure they did it out of fear. They saw what I am capable of." Her abilities were hardly a secret.

"If I may say so, they had a right to be," Thrakos commented as he pulled away from the edge and returned to the cart. "How did you blow it up if your hands and feet were bound? I thought you had to have a transmutation circle to do alchemy."

"Patience and timing," Mei replied. "I got my hands on a loose screw when I was bounced nearly on top of it last night as we stopped. I had plenty of time to work it loose and scratch out a small circle with it and my fingers. I don't even need to see the right circles to make things explode like that. I've drawn them enough."

"You're something else," Thrakos whistled.

Minxia grimaced. That was not how you talked to an Imperial Mother!

But to her surprise, her grandmother chuckled briefly. "Well it's nice to know my talents are appreciated."

"Is there any hope we can make another attack tonight?" Minxia asked abruptly, feeling her face warm in the cold night and wondering why Thrakos complimenting her _grandmother_ made her feel jealous. It wasn't as if Mei would ever have any designs on Minxia's boyfriend.

And that thought only made Minxia think of Thrakos' sort-of-a-proposal the other night, and her face was fully warm enough she was surprised she didn't glow in the dark.

At least her outburst got things back on track, even if the response was disappointing. Thrakos shook his head. "No. And I think we should move further down the hill if we don't want to be here when they decide this looks like a good spot to use as a vantage point, or remember that their escapee is brilliant."

"I see why you like him, Minxia," Grandma Mei commented even as Thrakos jumped to the front of the cart and untied the horses. "He's quite the flatterer."

"Grandma!"


	7. Chapter 7

**February 13****th****, 1984**

Shan Xian winced and forced his eyes open as he heard the crack of footsteps on the polished wood of the floor outside the door to his room; his prison really. He supposed he should be grateful that he had not been tossed in a cell when the Tiahuan soldiers stormed the palace and captured his family. The fighting had been fierce, frantic, and he even vaguely remembered his cousin Michio storming in from the street to try and help defend them, but Shan had been knocked unconscious in battle, and when he had awoken, he was chained hand and foot, with the ability to shuffle around the room in which he was kept -one of the interior soldier's quarters, a single room, well-appointed and not uncomfortable, but without a door onto any gardens. One entrance and exit, guarded by two well-armed men. Shan, unfortunately, was not an alchemist, and the room had immediately proved to be devoid of anything he could realistically use as a weapon.

The door opened, and Shan recognized the soldier who was carrying a tray which contained, he assumed, his breakfast. Shan bristled. He knew Chizan. They had trained together when Shan first joined the military. Chizan was only a little younger than he was, but he had been eager, worked hard, and proven to be one of the family's most loyal palace soldier guards.

Until now. Shan tried not to spit on Chizan's uniform as the tray was set down on the stand by his bed. Shan sat up, despite his shackles, refusing to be lying down with a potential threat in the room. It had been unimportant, until now, that Chizan was from Tiahuan. ::What do you want?::

::I bring your meal,:: Chizan replied stiffly. ::The sweet rice is particularly good this morning.::

Sweet rice, a favorite of Shan's. ::How can you do this, Chizan?:: Shan asked. It was the first time they had sent in someone he knew. It galled him in ways he had not expected. ::How can you betray us? How can you betray Meifen?:: Chizan had shown interest in Shan's little sister, and he knew his sister had recently begun to consider Chizan in another light. Their family had always been so much more flexible than most on relationships, that it had not seemed a problem. Not when Chizan was so highly honored and trustworthy.

Chizan cringed slightly at Shan's accusing tone, before he hid it again quickly. ::I am loyal to my family,:: he replied. ::I will not betray those I care for.::  
Through the open door behind Chizan, Shan could see part of the backs of the heads, and shoulders, of the two guards at the door. They seemed to be listening. ::If Meifen could see you, she would be disgusted,:: he retorted. ::Why are the Tiahuan doing this?::

::Meifen cannot see me,:: Chizan replied, and now his expression looked sour. ::She is no longer anywhere near. The Tiahuan wish to return Xing to its former glory, to return to more traditional ways.::

::Using new projectile explosives with liquid fuel? How traditional.::

::Some progress is necessary in order to move in any direction,:: Chizan repeated the rhetoric that Shan had heard from several of his guards. Though the wording was slightly different. The others had focused on the fact that it was a temporary shift. This statement made it sound very permanent. Shan did not think anything was going to truly revert, not in any way that would benefit Xing.

::Who says that?::

::Teno Tiahuan,:: Chizan replied. ::The leader speaks, and the people follow. Eat your food. I must get back to more important duties.:: He turned and left without another word. The guards closed the door behind him.

Shan reached out with his shackled hands for the spoon that stuck upright in the bowl of sweet rice. It was a good hot cereal, and he could smell the almond milk in it, and see berries. It really was good. His favorite in fact. That told him that the kitchen workers, at least, were still alive. The palace servants were probably all right so long as they were cooperating and keeping their heads down. That was good. Shan did not want them hurt on anyone's account. He would find his own way out of this.

Besides which, Chizan had given him several interesting pieces of information to work with. Teno Tiahuan was a Tiahuan General, and a preeminent member of their Provincial council. Not normally in the Imperial City, the man had retired from the military ten years previously, though Shan had seen him when he was younger. An imposing figure; strict and traditional, but always loyal to Xing… apparently not so much so to its Emperor.

Shan expected that Teno was the man in the throne room, whether he planned to make himself Emperor or not. Shan got no news locked away without the rest of his family.

Though he now had some news. Meifen, and likely others, had been taken from the palace as captives. If they had been dead, Chizan would have just said so. Of that, Shan was fairly certain. He was good at telling when Chizan was telling the truth, or when the man was lying. He had not lied today.

Which made Shan wonder if he could trust Chizan or not. It was possible that he was still loyal to the Xian family, and not the Tiahuan family. But could Shan trust him? Could Shan use him to get more information, and possibly to escape?

* * *

::Retired General Teno Tiahuan has declared himself Emperor of Xing,:: Tao announced to the gathered group of Amestrian and Xingese military officers that were gathered around the table inside the command tent. His expression was bitter.

Franz felt a bitter twist in his stomach as well. Traitors were bad. Military traitors were, in his mind, possibly worse. Defending the Empire and then turning around and taking it over. ::Has he made any announcements regarding the status of the Emperor? Because it's treason unless Mao is dead.:: Not that there was much difference here between a coup d'etat and treason. The whole situation was wrong.

::Only that he has my brother in the palace,:: Tao replied grimly. ::Shan is alive and held captive. No word on the others besides the rumors of a convoy with captives heading for Tiahuan Province. We sent some men after them with a truck, but have not had any luck. They did not take the expected route.::

::Then it's time to move ahead with our plan,:: Franz said firmly, looking down at the map on the table, showing the location of their forces, as well as where the Tiahuan forces were in and around the city. He did not think Tao would hold off to protect his brother. If he wasn't dead yet, then there was a reason for it.  
Tao nodded. ::We have to retake the city. If Shan is alive, both he and I have legitimate claim to the Imperial Throne before he does. He either has to quell the entire empire with fear, or kill us all.::

::Or convince you to abdicate,:: Ren commented. Franz knew that none of Ren's children held any claim to the throne. Part of the agreement, politically, of her marriage to Will had been that their children, while having citizenship in both countries, and recognized noble status within Xing, they had no claim at all to the throne, being half-Amestrian.

Right now, Franz thought that was a good thing. It meant they weren't out there head-hunting Michio and Minxia. It was possible they didn't know the two were in the country. A slim chance, but possible.

::That's not going to happen.:: Tao replied.

::Good,:: Cal Fischer spoke up. ::Then let's get set up for the first advance.::

Franz nodded. The first attack was going to be a little bit tricky. A feint, using alchemists primarily, but advancing like regular soldiers, to draw out the Tiahuan defenses and, hopefully, get an idea if their strategies for using alchemists against the rockets would be effective. It was a risky proposition but then, all of war was risky. ::Fischer, your unit will go with Xing Unit Four, and head around to the North. Closson, take your unit with Xing Unit Two, and go for the Southern gate.::

Cal and Tore nodded, and the two Xingese commanding officers of the named units nodded as well; Sring and Lios were both the equivalent of Brigadier Generals in the Xing army and experienced in battling small border insurrections. This would be a new concept, but given the number of experienced officers that the Tiahuan had targeted in their initial attack who were in the city, the less experienced had no choice but to step up and lead well. A siege was new for them.

::We will begin at oh-nine-hundred-hours,:: Tao agreed. ::Let us hope we can do some damage to their long-range capabilities, or it will be very difficult to retake the city.::

::But not impossible,:: General Quixong commented gruffly. The grizzled general was one of the most experienced military leaders in the room, and Franz had worked with him extensively to codify plans and make sure that their forces could work together. The Xing were proud, and Franz did not want there to be dissonance between the two groups of soldiers because Amestris had come to their aid. They were selling it to the troops, honestly enough, as Amestris paying back their debt of honor for when Xing had sent assistance during the Drachman War.

::We will succeed,:: Franz added. ::There is no alternative.:: As much as his own personal interests in this, aside from helping family, involved finding out what the Hashman Syndicate had to do with the Tiahuan coup, he had to focus on the important things first. His personal goals would have to wait.

* * *

Ted swallowed a drink of water from his canteen, trying to pretend it was just a dry mouth and not nerves. His whole year had been assigned to Shock's unit of alchemists for this initial attack. So he, Clarina, Vera, and Larry stood together, the majority of the alchemist team heading for the Southern gate. While Ted had no problem being under Tore Closson's command, he felt a little stung that their team wasn't going to be hitting the larger forces at the northern walls, where they had not yet rebuilt and so had most of the army. A good amount of their forces remained just inside the walls, only letting in the few business traders brave enough –or desperate enough- to bring their goods. Allies and military transport were almost all that seemed to move in or out of the city these days.

"I hope you're on your feet today, Proteus," Larry commented.

"I'm not the one with rocks for feet, Tremor," Ted grinned. "Try and keep up."

"You boys," Vera shook her head. Her short, stylish dark hair seemed out of place above the full military uniform. Not that Clarina, with her sweet face and pale blond hair looked any more militant. Both girls were, in Ted's estimation, far too pretty to be soldiers. That didn't make their skills any less effective however.

"I'm better with rocks than he is," Clarina pointed out with a soft smile.

Ted felt flustered for a moment. He grinned and shrugged. "Yeah, well… your touch is far more refined. You make art. He just makes messes."

"Enough chatter," Tore strode up to them, looking far more serious than he ever did at home, even at HQ.

Normally, Ted thought, they weren't standing on a battle field. Most alchemist missions were not of this scale. "Yes, Shock, Sir," he said in near unison with the rest of his squad. He wasn't Uncle Tore here.

The Shock Alchemist nodded briskly. "Remember the plan. The soldiers are the bait. The goal is to lure out soldiers, or get them to fire their rockets. In either case, defend the soldiers and destroy your targets. Avoid diverting them if possible. We don't want to take out any civilians if we can avoid it. Remember, there are several million people still living within the walls, despite those who fled in the first attack.

"We understand, Sir," Larry replied, all-business. "Any other orders?"

Shock nodded. "Just the standard State Alchemist Order: Don't die."

Ted couldn't resist a smug grin. "We'll do our best, Shock."

"Your best had better be good enough then. All right, let's move out." Then Tore turned and headed towards the waiting Xingese soldiers.

Ted shared a meaningful exchange of glances with his teammates. They had trained together to be able to work independently, or as a full team, and now it was time to see how well it paid off.

* * *

"When we get there, you break off with your guards," Cal explained to Ren as they approached the northern wall from West. The regiment of the Xing army going with them had marched north well out of reach of even the rockets that were behind the walls before turning east. Now, they would form up and use similar tactics as that further south; draw out their firepower or their men. In either case they had a chance of achieving objectives; weakening the enemy, assessing their strength, and learning more about how to make the Tiahuan weapons less of an advantage for the enemy. "While we've got everyone distracted, you shouldn't have much trouble getting around to those hiding spots you mentioned in the woods. Search them and come home safe though, or Will will kill me."

"Oh no. He might kill you, but you might wish he had," Ren agreed with a ghost of a smile on her lips. One that barely hit the worry in her eyes.

"Just take care of yourself." Cal resisted the urge to hug his sister-in-law, but he did rest a hand briefly on her shoulder. "And let's see how many people we can rescue today."

* * *

Michio had no idea which side was winning when he heard the explosions start in the distance, but he knew what they meant. The military was attacking the Tiahuan insurgents and trying to take back the city.

However, given the distance, and general direction, it seemed the perfect cover for getting his uncle out of the cave and away from the city without being captured. If he could just get to the next town to the West, he was sure he could find his uncle a more experienced doctor.

So he packed what supplies they had left in the backpack and put it on, then helped Mao to his feet. The regular healing sessions had at least done enough that the wound did not break open. ::Are you sure you can handle this?:: he asked his uncle, concerned at Mao's expression of pain.

The Emperor of Xing nodded. ::If I can't handle this, then how am I going to save my empire?::

::Fair enough.:: Michio couldn't manage a smile, but he gave his uncle an extra boost to make sure that he had a firm grip and Mao wouldn't fall down if he tripped. Then, slowly, they left the cave.

They couldn't creep along the woods like that, but Michio followed the deep gauge of the stream bed instead. It was not a deep stream this time of year, but nearly empty, with plenty of sand-and-rock along the edges that made it possible to travel for some distance without coming up above the embankments. They couldn't be seen unless someone happened to come to the gully and look down. Given the fighting wasn't around here, and marching across it wasn't possible at this location, Michio did not expect to stumble upon too many enemy soldiers.

Thankfully, his intuition seemed to be right, given he had no tactical military experience whatsoever; just generations of family stories that he wished he had paid a little more attention to. His only fighting skills were from sparring with family members. Those, he hoped he would not have to test out too soon.

It was slow going, even with the relatively even path they were able to follow, and the fact they could move upright. Michio tried not to jar Mao too often. While the other man never complained, Michio knew that he was in no real condition to be doing this. Still, there was no other real choice.

The sounds continued, first west of them, then south as the stream bed wound along, even under the road. Michio paused there, under the bridge, for several minutes while he and Mao shared some water and a rest. In the deep shadows, any sounds they might make hidden by the small waterfall there, Michio listened, trying to determine who was winning. The distinct sound of alchemical transformations told him that alchemists had entered the fray. Given how long it had been, he suspected they might well be Amestrian alchemists.

The urge to go look was powerful, but Michio refused to indulge his curiosity. If they were Amestrian alchemists, and in combat, they weren't healers, and taking Mao towards the lines on the side of the enemy was sheer foolishness.

After half an hour, he got them both back on their feet, and kept moving west. Though the sounds gave him a slightly lighter heart. If they could get past the Tiahuan lines, eventually they might be able to cut south –if Mao held out- and not only find healers, but people he knew.

* * *

_This is not my idea of a good time._ Ted Elric dodged explosive dirt, dropped to the ground, and transmuted, sending a solid block of near-brick hardened earth up into the air, where it met with a projectile explosive that went off over two hundred feet above their heads. It was a small explosive, which meant that the concussion wave only knocked people off their feet, but did no other real damage. It was loud though. _By the time we get out of here, I may have lousy enough hearing that the nightclubs don't seem so bad._

Beside him, hiding behind an alchemically created earthen berm thick enough to stop enemy gunfire, cannon fire, and tank rounds, Larry was using similar tactics to stop the explosive-tipped rockets –small ones- that the enemy kept shooting out their way. _They haven't pulled out the big guns. None of the city-levelers. Why not? We'd be easy pickings. _

Or perhaps not, he thought, as he watched Larry take another small one out of the sky. The things were limited in number, and expensive. Their factory was days away, even at the fastest mode of travel.

Vera and Clarina were also tucked safely behind the berm, using their talents to push back the enemy as well as taking out weapons. They had taken turns making sure that any kind of ballistic weapon was destroyed immediately, or diverted back in the direction of the enemy. The second was harder, so it was something they clearly needed more practice with. Clarina's skills with stone sculpting proved useful. Each of her own rock projectiles was rifled and shaped so that it flew with more accuracy than most, and hit with great impact. She was the most successful so far at diverting anything backwards.

Vera's abilities with off-spectrum light-waves proved useful as she used microwaves in tight concentration to cook off explosives in mid-air. With her dark hair sticking up in odd angles from all the explosions, and a bruise on her cheek from flying debris, she looked like the wild heroine of one of Grandpa Ed's books. Or at least, a book that she ought to be in.

"Head's up!" came the cry, and Ted turned his face back to the fray in time to toss a blast of pure energy induced air circulation into the next round of projectiles. While the individual rock method was working, he wondered if air movement based attacks might help deal with more than one at a time.

As three exploded over head, raining hot shrapnel and sending people diving for cover or protecting themselves with alchemy, Ted decided that particular method might need to be used further in advance-

-before things exploded on top of their heads!


	8. Chapter 8

**February 13****th****, 1984 (Continued)**

"The Generals' campfire has got to be the most boring place to be on the battlefront," Cal sighed as he sipped from the cup of –admittedly excellent- Xingese oolong he had been handed by one of Tao's personal aids.

"I'll take this over explosives trying to drive metal into me from above," Tore replied, taking his own cup of tea with a nod of thanks. The bandage on his cheek was testament enough to the fact that at the southern gate, the fighting had been intense. It had been worse at the north, with Cal's men. "We didn't take an inch of ground today."

"It's a good thing that wasn't our primary objective then," Franz commented from his folding chair on the other side of the fire, next to Tao. "We proved that most of the techniques we came up with are reasonably effective."

"Against their smaller munitions," Tore pointed out, scowling into the flames. He blew on his cup several times before taking a sip. "They haven't hit us with any of the big stuff you talked about," he glanced at Tao.

"Leveling the military would turn more of the country against them than declaring a new Emperor prematurely has," Tao explained in Amestrian. He had switched into it this evening, possibly for practice, or likely because the average soldiers would not be able to eavesdrop effectively. In either case, Cal hadn't asked. "They need to convince the military to stand down or give up. They know we will try to minimize civilian casualties. They attacked without impunity. The people know they mean business. It is a difficult balance to maintain."

"If we take too long, they gain more control, but push too hard and we take out the people we're trying to protect." Cal didn't like the sound of that one bit.

"Eventually a decision will have to be made. Sooner is better," Franz replied, and Cal couldn't help but scowl at the cool levelness of his tone. It wasn't like Franz to talk so casually of deciding the balance of people's lives.

At least, it hadn't been before. Cal was beginning to wonder what this war had wakened in Franz. He had wondered a little ever since the man insisted on taking the mission. He had seemed mostly his quiet, friendly self since Sara's death, though less prone to smile or laugh.

A buzz in the camp alerted them to Ren's return.

"Any luck?" Cal asked Ren, glad for the distraction from his other thoughts. From her expression he knew better than to expect a positive response.

Ren shook her head as she dropped into a chair that an aide immediately set up next to Tao. The man bowed as deeply to Ren as he would Tao, and then offered her a cup of tea. She took it with a quiet thanks, ignored his insistence that no thanks was required, and took a long, slow sip. "We were able to locate and access four of the points I remember. They were all completely unused, covered in dust. It's good because it means they haven't been discovered by the Tiahuan. They may be useful to us later."

"But they don't help us find anyone else," Franz nodded. "I'm sorry, Ren."

"Nothing to be sorry for," Ren replied. "We will keep fighting. I will keep searching. Eventually I believe we will find a clue, or family, hiding out in one of these locations." There was no room for failure in her tone.  
_  
Once an Imperial Princess… _Cal shook his head, and sipped his tea again. He had meant what he said earlier. When he, and Tore for that matter, had just been run-of-the-mill State Alchemists –as much as that was possible- a night around the fire with the men, if combat was not expected the next morning, would involve camaraderie, bad jokes, dirty stories about beautiful women, a few likely-illegal shots of something strong to drink. _And here I am sipping tea with royalty. Alyse is better suited for that than I am._ And he had never been more grateful his wife wasn't anywhere nearby. Not in this situation. It was far too dangerous.

"We will try the same tactic tomorrow," Franz spoke up again. "Except that we need to push them harder, and I want a small unit in the north to hang back, hit the flank, and try and cut off the train lines from the North."

This was not a surprise, not entirely. It was part of the discussed strategy. What surprised Cal was the fact that it had moved up, quite a bit, from the original timeline. "So soon?" he asked. "We weren't going to try and cut off their supplies for another couple of days. What about continuing to weaken the line?"

"I don't believe we have that luxury," Franz replied flatly, his expression one that offered no room for argument. While Cal would usually argue with anyone, he had seen eyes like those before, on other men.

"Then we make the push tomorrow," Cal nodded. "I'll tell the Second Brigade they're on it tomorrow."

"Good." That seemed to be the end of that discussion, as Franz went back to his key, and looking thoughtfully into the fire.

Everyone grew pensively quiet, wrapped in their own thoughts.

Once again, Cal wished he could be down the hill, getting drunk at a fire and telling stories about how much more amazing his girl was than anyone else's. _I'd win that contest, too._

* * *

"Are you all right, Ed?"

Ed, who was finally getting a turn riding shot-gun, and Al was stuck in the back seat with Will while Winry drove, looked up and nodded. He took his arm away from his aching shoulder. "Yeah. I'm fine." He had anticipated the aches and pains that came with colder weather. Especially wet weather. Resembool was kinder on him than the north of Xing was proving to be. Despite a supply of medicine should he need it, he still found it difficult to get moving in the morning, or when they were sitting for long periods of time in the truck, moving slowly east. "I could go for a soak in a good hot spring though, if there's one in the next town."

Northern Xing was littered with bath houses built around the hot springs common in the more mountainous region. They had not stopped at many, mostly because of where they stopped for the night, but Ed was beginning to think it might be worth it to make an exception. He knew Al and Winry were feeling the cold too, even though they never complained. He still caught Al stretching more than necessary, or Winry rubbing her hands a little. None of them were young.

"According to the map, the next town is Carros," Will said from the back seat. "It's supposed to be a resort town, with several bath houses, some sort of gambling establishment, and we'll be crossing over into Setuan Province, which borders Tiahuan on the west side."

"Sounds like a good place to stop and see if we can get information," Al commented agreeably. "That close to Tiahuan, in a tourist town, we might get lucky."

Ed nodded, watching the snow-covered landscape roll by outside. There was at least three inches on the ground, though the road was well traveled and plowed. Ed had to hand it to the folks up here, they knew how to deal with the weather. "Sounds like the kind of place you might find Hashman Syndicate guys on their day off… or working underhanded deals."

"The casino?" said Winry.

Ed nodded. "Exactly. Though I think only a couple of us should go in. As long as we act like tourists, we shouldn't draw much suspicion. But I know you don't like casinos."

Winry smiled, though she did not take her eyes from the road. "You're too kind."

After the last time the two of them had gone undercover in a casino, Ed couldn't imagine making Winry deal with something like that. Of course, this time, she was the elderly wife of an elderly man; not pretending to be somebody's bomb-shell girlfriend. "I think Will and I should go," Ed said, giving it some thought. "We'll hit the Casino. Al can sniff around the stores and the market, see what kind of black market deals go on in this town, and see who works them."

"And what am I supposed to do?" Winry asked.

"Well, since I suspect you'll refuse to enjoy the hot baths while we're working," Ed smirked, "I thought you could dip an ear into the local gossip and find out what's actually in the news right now. You know how women like to talk."

"I can do that," Winry nodded, smiling. "I'm good at weaseling information out of people without them realizing we're doing anything more than talking over a cup of tea."

"That's why that's your assignment," Ed replied.

"My assignment?"

"It's a mission, even if it's not a military one," Ed pointed out with a shrug. He caved and began to rub his aching shoulder again. "You could call us mercenaries I suppose."

Except we're not getting paid for this," Will chortled. "We're doing it for the good of mankind."

"Too bad there's no profit in it."

"Really, Ed," Al shook his head, and Ed caught it in the mirror. "Why do we care if there's profit?"

"We don't," Ed replied. "I just wanted something to take my mind off how much I hurt, and how much I want a nice big meal I didn't cook myself."  
That got a laugh from everyone in the truck.

* * *

The town of Carros was more of a small city. Or at least, it would have been in Amestris. The larger population of Xing made it 'just' a town. But quite the tourist town, even in the winter. This time of year, Alphonse suspected, it was because of the hot springs and the casinos. It certainly wasn't the weather.

And, it might be the food, he had to admit after they had gotten settled in one of the hotels attached to a hot spring bath house, and partaken of a large meal in the dining room. The food this far north was rich, hearty, filling, and delicious. It was far different from the lighter fare Al was used to tasting further south, or at home, whenever Ren cooked for them all.

Afterwards, they indulged in a soak in the baths. Ed was slightly disgruntled by the fact that they were traditional baths, split by gender, which meant Winry was bathing separately from him. Al just shrugged. ::You're the only one here who even gets to complain,:: he pointed out. ::Get over it.::

Ed had grumbled until they were all in the water. Having arrived at the right time to have dinner and hit the baths while most folks were out seeing the sites or at the casino, for the moment they had the huge hot spring to themselves, and Al sank down until only his head was above water, and leaned back against the rocks. After days driving from town to town -and a couple of nights sleeping the truck- it was heaven to just let the hot water ease the cold and ache out of his muscles. Al closed his eyes, and sighed in contentment.

::We should sight-see tomorrow,:: Will commented drowsily from off to his right.

::This might just be better than my hot tub back home,:: Ed said from Al's left, where the corner of the spring allowed him to be caddy-corner, and they could converse in a small group without talking over distance. ::It may need a few modifications.::

::I'll help you make them,:: Will chuckled.

For a few moments, it felt like they were actually on vacation. Too bad that wasn't the case, but Al had learned to enjoy life's little pleasures, no matter the circumstances under which they had them. He and Ed had spent years on missions, in combat, at war. That had not kept them from living life along the way.

He peaked a look at Ed, whose eyes were also closed, his head leaned back so far he almost looked asleep. It occurred to Al that this would not have been possible decades ago. Ed's new auto-mail, far better insulated thanks to improvements in technology and a very thin coating, did not gather heat the way the original ones had, so while Al was sure the metal was getting warm, it wasn't going to burn Ed. _So much has changed. I almost forget he's still got metal limbs. _They were just Ed's limbs. _That bothered me so much as a boy. But it just doesn't matter anymore, to either of us. _In time, it seemed anything could be accepted. It was good to see Ed enjoying the heat, which had to be even more beneficial to him than it was for Al. Despite his grumbling, Al knew that Ed wasn't complaining nearly as much as he deserved to. When the pain was really bad, Ed shut up about it.

In fact, Ed looked so relaxed at the moment, Al feared he might have fallen asleep. ::Ed?::

::I'm alive,:: Ed replied, opening his eyes. ::Just enjoying the moment. I haven't felt this good since we left home.::

::Me neither,:: Al admitted.

::If I admit the same does that make me an old man?:: Will asked with a chuckle –

-that stopped abruptly as Ed and Al both shoved his head briefly under water.

* * *

Winry shook her head as she heard splashing on the other side of the huge wooden wall that separated the men and women's baths. She managed not to sigh, and pushed a strand of dyed-black hair back up on top of the pile she had pinned on her head. _Those boys… goofing off instead of just enjoying the heat._

::My my, sounds like there's some rowdy fellows staying tonight,:: one of the other women –there were only two- commented from several feet away. She looked to be about fifteen or twenty years younger than Winry, though that still made her old enough that her hair was going gray-white at the temples, despite still being mostly black. ::I hope they aren't from one of the Universities.::

Winry shook her head and chuckled. ::No, actually, I believe that would be my _distinguished_ husband and brother-in-law.::

The woman gave her a look, then laughed. ::They never do grow up do they?::

::No, not a bit,:: Winry agreed, smiling. ::Are you here with anyone?:: she asked conversationally.

::My son,:: the woman replied. ::He allows me to accompany him on his business trips, so that I won't be stuck home by myself. He's a good, devoted boy. Knows his place. And I enjoy getting to stay in places like these,:: she added with a coy look.

Winry nodded. ::I could definitely get used to this. We saved up for quite a while for this vacation actually. What does your son do?::

::He's a businessman,:: the other woman replied with a distinct note of pride in her voice. ::International trade in various commodities. Oh, I don't follow all of it, but he provides more than well enough. He's here to meet one of his most important clients, so of course I don't get to go to the meetings. But we'll be going out for dinner tomorrow evening at the best place in town. He's told me all about it.::

International trade… important clients, in the middle of a coup. Winry nodded sympathetically. ::He sounds like a very devoted son, and a hard worker. I am impressed he continues to meet given the current troubles.::

The woman smiled. ::Oh, I shouldn't tell you this, but I think Ven's current deal will help resolve the conflicts to the south. I heard him mention on the phone that this deal will help bring things to a peaceful conclusion soon.:: She sounded so very proud.

Winry wished she could run and find Ed… now. But she might never get this close to a useful source again. She hadn't expected to find gossip useful this fast. ::That would be wonderful,:: she replied, sounding as enthusiastic and impressed as she could realistically manage without going overboard. ::And don't worry, I won't spread it around. I wouldn't want to hurt his business.::

::Thank you, dear,:: the woman's smile grew. ::Oh, but where are my manners, I haven't introduced myself, though you may have guessed by now since I've mentioned my son. I am Lina Tihan.::

Tihan… one of the familial branches of the Tiahuan. ::Your son is _that_ Ven Tihan?:: Winry pretended to look impressed. ::My cousin does business, but locally. He's talked about your son's talents.::

The woman looked inordinately pleased. ::How excellent! What is your name?::

::Kumi Akano,:: Winry gave a pseudonym, the one she had been using intermittently on their mission so far, as needed. She had avoided giving a name as much as possible. It was best not to be too memorable, but this was too good an opportunity to pass up.

::The Akanos!:: the woman nodded as if she should know that name. ::I have heard of your family. It is an honor.::

::The honor is mine,:: Winry replied. _Now let's see just how much more you can tell me._

* * *

They had followed the convoy –now down to one large truck and the couple of smaller vehicles that were Tiahuan soldiers—for another day, though it had left later the next morning than they had feared it might, and had not moved as fast, thanks to some damage the car nearest to it had suffered thanks to explosive debris. So in keeping well behind on the road, they had managed to follow –risky thought it was— until the truck headed into the next town, where –unfortunately—they stopped at the doors of the nearby garrison, and were let inside a gated compound after only a few minutes.

::We should find someplace to sleep tonight,:: Minxia mused as she and Thrakos walked back to where they had left Mei in the cart. She was far too recognizable to just walk into town. And while her appearance might stir things up, chances were the news wouldn't travel far enough or fast enough for it to do much good. That and they were likely to be outnumbered. If the local garrison was on the side of Tiahuan Clan, than they would be in a lot of trouble if they were discovered. ::But I really don't want to sleep out in the cold.::

::It's not good for your grandmother either,:: Thrakos pointed out with a nod. ::For all her healing abilities, she's been through a lot lately. The cold isn't helping. I know she doesn't complain, but you can see she's hurting.::

::I know,:: Minxia snapped, though she felt immediately sorry for it. ::I'm sorry. I just mean I can tell. I didn't mean to growl at you. I don't know what's wrong with me.::

::You're worried about your family, tired, cold, stressed, and you've never done anything like this before. It's okay.:: Thrakos put his arm around her.

Minxia snuggled into it instinctively. ::You would think I would be enjoying this adventure more, but I just want it to end…preferably with everyone safe.::

::It'll be fine,:: Thrakos assured her, even though he didn't sound completely convinced. ::But I think we're going to need more help.::

::Who do you think we should ask?: Minxia said as they slipped into the copse of trees on the edge of town where the cart was waiting.

::I have been considering the same thing,:: Grandma Mei said from her spot curled up under blankets on the hay in the cart. ::I believe we need to stop following the convoy.::

::What!:: Minxia stared at her grandmother. ::Are you nuts?::

::Minx!:: Thrakos looked startled, and Minxia felt that twinge of annoyance again. She was getting tired of Thrakos treating her grandmother like some revered goddess, even if she did love her grandmother.

::I think the people who might help us are not too far away,:: Mei continued, unruffled. ::But we need to take a detour further east.::

Minxia tried to think about where they were, without a map in front of her. It wasn't too easy. ::But… that's Yao land!:: Yao and Chan…and Yao and Xian, had been at odds for generations.

Thrakos looked puzzled.

Mei nodded. ::It is, and last I heard, Ling Yao still lives, and has been recovering well. If the reports are to be believed, despite his age –like mine- he may be the assistance we need. Yao has no love for Tiahuan, and is not weak, despite the last decades of trouble. For a chance at redemption, I believe them more likely to side with us than with the Tiahuan Clan.::

::And if they don't?:: Minxia asked.

::Then we are no worse off,:: Mei replied. ::I do not believe they would turn us over either way. But I am rarely wrong. Let us at least make the attempt. After all, we were the ones who eventually let Ling Yao go, restored his son to him, and did our best to restore his sanity despite his imprisonment. He was never abused.::

::Very well,:: Minxia nodded. ::It shall be as you say grandmother. We will go East. How far away is the Yao capitol city?::

::Only a day or two by car, too far by horse,:: Mei replied. ::I believe we will need to find the use of a better vehicle.::

::I am sure I can find a place for the horses in town,:: Thrakos commented, ::Though a car might be harder to come by. Is there no other way?::

::Country roads will get us there in a day and a half,:: Mei replied, though she did not look best pleased to be considering the rougher terrain in winter.

::We can make that,:: Minxia sighed. She didn't like the idea either. ::We can make the way easier. I can always use alchemy where needed to clear or smooth the roads. We will be fine. Though we should get more winter supplies, and restock our food, before we attempt it.::

::With what funds?:: Thrakos asked. ::No offense, but this far out, I don't think Imperial credit is a good idea, or much good.::

::I still have a little,:: Minxia dug into her pockets, and pulled out her quickly thinning pocket book. ::It will have to do.::

::I'll handle purchases.:: Thrakos took the money before Minxia could object. ::You rest here, stay warm, and let me handle things.:: A familiar smug grin came across his face. ::I'm quite the haggler.::


	9. Chapter 9

**February 14****th****, 1984**

Some days Edward was sure Winry had some of the best luck he had ever known. When she had cornered him back in their room the night before, he and Al had hardly been able to believe their good fortune. In fact, he had been rather suspicious that this might be a set-up, except that all the facts seemed to check out. And since there was supposed to be a meeting at the casino, he decided that was a safe enough place to show up and see what he could discover, as planned. Only instead of just getting a feel for the place and who was in town, he and Will already had a more specific agenda in mind.

Ed tried not to feel the edge of his battle-reflexes as he tried to pretend to be just a really old guy on vacation and walked casually into the casino with Will. _Relax, let the ache in your limbs show in your movements. If you look infirm, no one will take you as a threat._ But that was hard, after decades of never showing weakness.

He continued to look around casually, as if deciding what to hit first, and said to Will, ::So, where do we want to put our money first?::

Will looked around thoughtfully. ::We could try the card tables,:: he suggested.

Ed managed not to laugh. Now was not the time to make full use of his card shark skills, but at least he wouldn't look a complete fool their either, and it wasn't as random as slot machines. He disliked random chance. ::Sure, why not?::

Really, they had decided this particular maneuver ahead of time. The card tables were, unsurprisingly, in a quieter area of the casino, and nearer the private rooms where big-stakes games –or secret meetings- tended to happen. Any major business meeting happening in this building would probably happen in one of those. Ed did not think he'd be lucky enough to get himself invited in to one of those games, but it was still the best place to stake out what was going on and find a way to eavesdrop on the conversation if at all possible. If this guy was doing business with the Hashman Syndicate –which it rather sounded like- than it might be the key they were looking for as to whether the Syndicate was taking advantage of the situation in Xing, or if they had helped cause it, or if they might not just be behind it, given their hatred of alchemists, and the Xingese heavy use of alkahestry.

It was such a puzzle…an international mystery. _And people try to tell me I'm retired… hah._

They had purposefully arrived over an hour before Ven's scheduled meeting, so there would be no apparent connection. They had come in, right behind several other people, and so it was not hard to slot into the next game setting up at one of the tables, toss a little money in to play, and blend in to the crowd.

Will was a decent card player, but Ed was better, and they made a decent balance. Will lost two games and then sat out, saying he'd watch a master at work instead, with a bit of a laugh. Ed managed to win about three-quarters of the time, but he had to purposefully throw one game, and he honestly lost two, so people were willing to keep playing him. Still, he was raking in a good amount of money. It would certainly cover their expenses for a while, and who knew how long they would actually be undercover in Xing. Even if they learned a lot today, they still had to get to, and take out, what was likely to be a large, heavily guarded, industrial site. And that might not deal with the scientists who had developed the technology in the first place.

He caught a nod from Will when Ven –whom they had identified last night speaking with his mother in the lobby of the place where they were staying- strolled in, looking serious in a very modern, very stylish –if Xingese in fashion- business suit. He arrived, nodded to one of the casino employees, and was almost immediately met by a man who Ed had mentally noted as one of the managers just by watching him work earlier. The manager escorted him to a room off to Ed's right, which Ed could see in his peripheral and Will, from his seat, had a fairly clear view of without having to turn.

As the game ended and some of the players stepped out, there was a momentary lull, and Ed took the opportunity to excuse himself to use the men's room nearby.

Inside, he ducked into a stall, and transmuted a tiny tube-like tunnel through the thick bricks of the wall, around the corner, and right into the room in question, though he brought it out down near the floor in the corner. He couldn't see anything, but he immediately heard voices…and they did not seem to have noticed his little trick.

::-seeing me this afternoon,:: a male voice was saying.

::The Clan wishes to see our mutual benefits continue,:: Ven replied, then got right to the point. ::You are here to broker a deal for more of our projectiles.::

::And not those little ones you sent us last time,:: the other man replied. His accent was not great, and Ed would have bet anything the guy was actually Amestrian.

:They won't be enough for our plans.::

::Your petty political vengeances are not our problem,:: Ven said. ::However, if you have the funds, than we can negotiate.::

::Right here.:: Ed heard what sounded like a briefcase clicking open. He could visualize a case full of money. ::Now, can we talk?::

::I believe we can come to an agreement,:: Ven replied. ::But I cannot make too many promises. We need the majority of our ordinance in the fight here as we work to consolidate our new empirical rule.::

::Our targets are smaller than yours,:: the Syndicate man replied. ::Hashman doesn't wish to rule a country, merely to make a point… permanently.::

Ed didn't like the sound of that. What was their target? His first thought was Central, but he might be jumping to conclusions. The Hashman Syndicate operated in four countries now, though their base was somewhere around here instead of Drachma, Amestris, or Aerugo. Still, he couldn't help but think that the target must be in Amestris.

::Your point will be memorable, if nothing else,:: Ven said. Papers ruffled. A chair creaked. ::Hashman overreaches his abilities, but your services have been profitable and your assistance valuable. Here is our offer." Something swished, paper sliding across a table. ::I think you will find it most amenable and more than fair compensation for the safe use of our lands as well as the discounted prices on our mutual goods.::

A minute passed and Ed surmised the other man was reading the proposed deal over carefully, looking for any signs of a trick, loopholes, foul play, or anything else that might make it a bad deal. Apparently he didn't find anything. ::It looks fair enough,:: he agreed finally. ::How soon can they be delivered?::

::You can come to the factory in Rixaun and pick them up yourself in two weeks.::

::Two weeks!::

::That is when they will be available, unless you'd like to haul unstable explosives half way across a continent,:: Ven replied evenly. Nothing much seemed to bother him.

::Two weeks is fine,:: the Syndicate man agreed, sounding only mildly sullen. Ed wondered if it was clear to Ven, who could see the man. Ed doubted that his face betrayed his feelings as much as his voice. ::We will be there. How is the situation in Imperial City?::

::Moving according to plan,:: Ven replied. ::We hold the city, and the Palace. (name) has declared himself with minimal fuss. Tao Xian's men, even with help from those Amestrian dogs, have not manage to breach the walls or retake anything. It's ridiculous for them to think they have a chance, but then no one has ever blamed either group of common sense.::

::And the prisoners?::

::On their way to Tiuan. Their existence will be announced once they are safely behind bars in our highest security prison. If the existence of hostages will be a useful ploy, than surely the whole family will work wonders, though it has been traditional merely to kill off all family members of an overthrown Emperor.::

::Is Mao actually dead?::

::Of course he's dead,:: Ven snapped. ::Don't be foolish. They wouldn't be fighting so desperately if they had him. He would have declared himself or they would have insisted they have him. The sons are weaker than the father. They haven't even had the gaul to lie about his life. Mao is dead, and with him, this corrupted empire.::

::Fair enough,:: the other man didn't sound so sure, but there was no further argument. ::Two weeks. I need to report in.::

Chairs scraped on the floor as both men stood up.

::They will be ready on time,:: Ven replied, though he did not sound like he felt the need to really reassure the man of anything. It was clear who was on top, at least between these two in this given situation. Ed wondered if the Hashman Syndicate was using the Tiahuan Clan, or if they were mutually using each other. It sounded, from this, like the Syndicate wasn't nearly as in control of the situation as they wanted to be.

It was also interesting to know that they thought Mao was dead. Not because they had killed him, but because Tao hadn't tried to claim his father was alive. Which meant they didn't have Mao either. If they had killed him, they would have announced it. If they knew he was dead, or captured, they would have said so.

_They don't know what happened to Mao._

As minor a detail as it might seem, it set Ed's mental gears spinning. No one knew if Mao was alive or not. That meant he wasn't captured, and no one could verify if he had been killed. While Ed didn't think Mao would have willingly gone into hiding if he were in good health, it meant that while he was probably injured, possibly severely, he was still very possibly alive.

He had to get news to the military. Mao may not be dead...and the Syndicate had plans for a target that they planned to blow, probably in Amestris.

Ed waited until he heard nothing more on the other room, then he undid his transmutation, waited another minute, then he left the men's room and returned to the card table.

In the several minutes he had been gone, Will had managed to win one, lose one, and otherwise not draw much attention to himself.

::I think I'm ready to try another game,:: Ed told Will casually.

::You took long enough,:: Will griped. ::Might as well. I'm not winning much at this one anyway.::

Will finished up the current game, bowed out with his winnings, and Ed collected his own winnings and they headed towards the other side of the casino. Not that they stayed long. There was no reason to do so. Instead, they wandered through the slots, cut back down another aisle, and left the casino about ten minutes after the conversation had ended.

Ed didn't try to fill Will in on what he had heard while they were on the street. It was too much sensitive information. Instead they pretend to bicker about where to eat that night, how much Winry was -theoretically- spending on frivolous women's things on this vacation, and various other inane topics.

He hoped Al and Winry had also had a productive afternoon, information-wise. Al was supposed to be trying to locate the Syndicate headquarters. Now, the name Ed had gotten was useful, because he now had a city name for their destination. He knew where the factory was: Rixaun. He also knew for sure that members of the Imperial family were alive, and where they were being taken. Ed wanted to find a map and see how far away both locations were, and how far apart they were.

When they got back to their hotel, Al and Winry were both there, sitting in one of the private tea rooms that could be reserved for afternoon sitting and contemplation. They knelt on cushions, between them a low, square table with black lacquered edges. Sipping tea, they looked very much like older, traditional Xingese citizens.

::You look chilled,:: Winry commented. ::Have some tea.::

::Don't mind if I do,:: Will grinned as he settled down on the third side of the table, dropping easily into the sitting position.

::What are we having today?:: Ed asked. He liked tea, though years of military life had gotten him used to coffee. Both were still preferable over the taste of milk, though he had found ways to get enough of that into his diet without curling his tongue.

::Spiced Green Tea,:: Al said, smiling. ::It's a local blend, and it really warms you up.::

::Sounds good.:: Ed took the fourth seat, though he sat cross-legged instead of kneeling. The kneeling hurt if he did it too long on his auto-mail leg. He took the fourth cup, sniffed, and sipped. The sweet, pungent blend of spices did not overwhelm the green flavor, but complimented it nicely. There was a natural sweetness to it as well. ::So, did either of you find out anything?:: he asked without preamble.

Al nodded his head. ::Not much, but I followed a couple of leads. It looks like there are several members of the Hashman Syndicate here. They use the town as a base for their interactions with Tiahuan Clan, though their stronghold seems to be somewhere outside the city, to the north.::

::Of course to the north,:: Ed grumbled. Sure, let's make things colder. ::No specific location?::

::Not by name. Apparently it's an old border fort that's not been used in over forty years. It is, however, along an old rail line that hasn't been used much in recent years either, but it's in decent repair.::

::We were discussing that it's probably how they're getting back and forth across this part of the continent without being obvious to the local population, and how they got away from Drachma so quickly,:: Winry added. ::Once they crossed the desert, which is much narrower up this far, it wouldn't be difficult to use the tracks. They could run people, and goods, back and forth.::

::And weapons.:: Ed nodded. ::Well we know where they are, we can pass that information on to Military Intelligence.::

::We're not going up there?:: Will asked, looking mildly surprised.

::What good would it do right now?:: Al asked his son in a reasonable tone. ::We have a mission to see through first. We have to destroy that munitions factory and see if we can find a way to deal with the scientists who discovered how to build rockets here, and look at their research.::

::And we have to rescue family,:: Ed added with a look at Will. ::I heard quite a bit in the casino.:: With that, Ed launched into a detailed retelling of the conversation, along with a summary of his preliminary observations and likely conclusions regarding what he had just found out.

::We do have to rescue them,:: Winry nodded emphatically when Ed was done. ::Whoever is there, we can't just leave them captured. Who knows how long it will be before they decide they really are expedient after all.::

::They have to be planning to use them as leverage to convince Tao to back off,:: Ed said. ::The only reason they've held off this long is to make sure that they can't be easily rescued, which would defeat the point of having them at all.::

::Do you think they would really let them go if Tao surrendered?:: Winry asked.

::Not a chance,:: Will said almost at the same time as Al shook his head and Ed snorted at the possibility.

::They can't let the previous dynasty live,:: Ed explained simply. ::There will always be people who preferred the old way, and those who are loyal to them for other reasons. There will be questions of rights and succession. You remember what the Empire was like when we were kids. Before the old Emperor died, everything here was in constant chaos. There was no trade between the countries most of the time because of all the little internal clan wars. If the Tiahuan succeed, Xing will return to that chaos, or be split into more than one country again, possibly dozens, also likely to go to war again, trying to conquer each other, or just defend their own territory. Mao has held a more coherent Xing together for longer than any other emperor in over ten generations, possibly longer.::

::And he may not be dead.:: Al had looked relieved at that part of Ed's news. ::Which means we can still keep Xing from completely falling apart, or the Tiahuan from carving out their own empire. We just need to rally enough allies against them.::

::That's what Tao needs to do, with Franz' help,:: Ed corrected. ::We'll do our part. Then, we will do everything else we can. But we can't expect to take down an entire coup on our own.::

::Are you sure you're feeling all right?:: Winry asked. ::I don't think I've heard a reasonable statement like that out of you in years. At least not where combat is related.::

Ed managed to keep his annoyance to mild disgruntlement. ::It's a fact,:: he shrugged. ::Even if Al and I were still in our thirties I wouldn't take all these guys on. This is about stealth, and precision. We can't realistically take on an army with rocket-propelled explosives with just the four of us.::

::Oh I agree completely, it's just an interesting change.:: Winry took another calm sip of tea.

::I thought it might be nice to come back alive.::

Al chuckled. ::On that we can all agree.::

**February 15****th****, 1984**

Ren was beginning to think that her search might be in vain. Not that she was normally a defeatist attitude person, but she had been systematically searching each of the secret locations her family had planned out in case of emergencies like this one. She, and her two chosen personal guards, had slunk cautiously from one to the next, making it to two or three of the spots before moving back to the safety of Tao's lines.

Her hand-picked personal guard consisted of James Heimler and Jean "Havoc" Stevens. James had seemed surprised to be chosen, but Ren hoped that having someone from investigations would actually be helpful with this part of the investigation. She knew what she was looking for, and where to go, but if they needed to follow trails, she was not as experienced a tracker as she suddenly wished. Both of the men she had chosen she knew she could absolutely rely on, and while neither of them was Xingese, that didn't matter. There was no way they were Tiahuan spies, and they were family friends. It made her feel better to have them with her as she exposed long-held family secrets. James and Jean would never talk.

At least, not about secrets. They did chat when it was safe about Jean's wife and kids, and James talked about his sister's family, or Krista. He talked a _lot_ about Krista. Ren pretended she wasn't listening when James would go off on long litanies of her qualities and talk about the time they spent together, and how she was finally showing interest in him as more than a friend… but she heard every word, and smiled to herself. Youthful romance was a wonderful thing. Inevitably it would take her mind back to thoughts of meeting Will in college, when Ethan had first introduced her to his charming –if slightly shaggy at the time- cousin, the philosopher and alchemist. Ren had not given much thought to love before that point. She had been too focused on her studies. That was what had brought her to Amestris… new knowledge and perspective. And in turn, it had given her a most wonderful gift; a man and a family she loved as much as that in which she had grown up.

The family she now hoped desperately to save. It was hard to remember some days, even to herself, that she was a princess of Xing. She no longer had any right to the throne, but that did not change things as much as it might seem. Her childhood, her teenage years, had been here, in the very city whose outskirts she now skulked, praying to find that her older brother –the Emperor himself- was still alive, somewhere. Or her mother… she couldn't not accept that Mei Xian would be dead after one attack after so many years dodging assassins and scraping her way up from being one of the many princes and princesses vying for the throne, to the Empress of Xing.

_You had better not be dead, Mao_, her thoughts went back to her brother. Not as Emperor, but as the brother she had grown up loving; serious when he had to be, but intelligent, clever, handsome, and just as capable of goofing around in private as any other man she had ever known. He was such a loving father to his children, and husband to Jiu, and he had been a wonderful brother, despite the large age gap between them.

::Hey, Aunt Ren, look at this!::

Ren shook herself out of her reverie. They had come, at last, the long way around the city to the north-east woods, looking for a place she had played with her brother when they were children, and she in turn had shown her own children where it was. It was a good, safe place, and one that was not officially one of their secret escapes, but it was well hidden, and it had occurred to Ren that any member of her family would know it as well as the others. ::What is it?:: She came around the corner in the deep gully, edging the stream bed, and coming into view of the well-hidden cave she remembered, though it was even more grown-over. The entrance was nearly invisible from the ground level, there was no way they would see it from the top.

::Signs,:: Jean Stevens suggested as he followed her.

::Well, a few,:: James replied, poking his head out of the hidden opening. ::There was someone here, and less than a day or two ago judging by the scrapes in the sand, and the lingering scent of cold food.::

::You can smell cold food?:: Ren asked dubiously.

::I'm a guy.:: James shrugged and nodded. ::Come in here, and see if you can help me figure out who it was.::

Ren determined that it was pointless to remind him that this was technically her investigation. She just went in, while Jean lurked in the entrance, but under the overhang so they were all invisible to prying eyes outside. She looked around at the floor of sand, and the markings. ::Two sets of foot prints,:: she said after a minute. ::They're wearing different shoes. These… these are Xing make,:: she tapped one set. ::They look like the inside shoes we had at the palace. Judging by the food size…. Male almost certainly. None of the ladies in the family have feet that big.:: Which could mean Tao had been here at one point, but unlikely. That left Mao or Shan. Ren's heart fluttered.

::The other pair aren't Xingese,:: James commented, sounding slightly excited. ::They've got the logo branded right in the sole. You can see they're Amestrian.::

Ren nodded. She recognized the brand in fact, and the size. ::Michio!:: She was almost certain of it. Her son had likely been in here, with a member of the family. _Leave it to him to try and rescue everyone._ He wasn't even that much of a fighter, but he had apparently succeeded, unless he was the injured one… that thought dampened her momentary joy. ::There's dried blood in the sand,:: she noted.

::The Xingese family member, I think,:: James said after several long seconds. ::At least judging by the way the footprints are around the bottom of the scuffles in the sand. The blood makes it look like…::

::A gut or side wound.:: Ren's stomach clenched slightly. Someone needed healing, and she wasn't there. ::They can't have left long ago.::

::One, maybe two days,:: James concluded. ::Though it doesn't look like signs of struggle, so I would think it's pretty safe to say that they left on their own. Probably to find help, and medical attention.::

::Just a minute.:: Ren squatted down in the sand, sketched out a quick circle, and then placed her hand on it, allowing it to glow briefly as she simply felt the area for alchemical residue (or at least, that was how she considered the tiny changes in the flow of chi that sometimes could be found for short periods, or any other clues. There… there it was…. And if she was not mistaken, the flow of alchemy had been used for healing. ::I think Michio is all right,:: she said. ::None of the other men in the family are alkahestrists.:: But which way had they gone?

Ren hurried back to the entrance, past Jean, and looked at the rock and sand along the stream. There were, much to her momentary dismay and frustration, no obvious signs of passage. _But there really shouldn't be. If there were, than they would be easy to follow._ ::I think they probably went west,:: she said after thinking hard about what her son would do in this situation. ::East would only take them in the direction of potential Tiahuan convoys. West they might break out past them.::

James nodded. ::I'm beginning to think you picked me just to be nice,:: he commented, but he was smiling as he said it. ::I agree that's probably the direction they went.::

::Then let's head that way,:: Jean suggested. ::It's the faster way back to camp as well, if we don't get stuck near the combat zone.::

::We'll have to go around,:: Ren sighed. ::For now, let's follow the stream. Down here, we are less likely to be spotted.:: Though if they were, she didn't want to fight her way out of there while they were getting shot at.


	10. Chapter 10

**February 15****th****, 1984 (Still)**

::I can't believe we made it,:: Minxia commented, feeling only a slight bit of relief as she looked down the hill at the Yao Provincial Capital below her. They had made it to their destination, and in surprisingly good time considering the roads, and the cold, but now that they were here, she could only hope that the Yao were not inclined to side with Tiahuan, and that they wouldn't simply be captured and handed over to the enemy. _Come on, Minx. We've got to trust someone, and Grandma says this is where we need to go._ ::I hope you're right about this, Grandma.::

::Me too,:: Mei replied from the cart bed. It distress Minxia to see her grandmother look at all frail, but it had struck her the past couple of days, just how old her grandparents all were. ::Let's go have a talk with Ling Yao.::

::I hope he's not as crazy as I've heard,:: Thrakos commented quietly to Minxia from the driver's seat of the cart as they made their way down the hill openly.  
Given the political situation, Minxia was surprised that they weren't stopped on the road in, but she did notice that at the entrance to the low walled town, there were gates, and those gates had guards. As they neared, Grandma Mei insisted on pausing long enough for her to get up into the front of the cart with Thrakos and Minxia, so they were all riding together, and she could sit up with a more commanding presence, or at least more dignified.

::What is your business?:: One of the guards asked as they came up to the open gates.

::We have urgent business with Shirong Yao,:: Grandma Mei said in her 'no nonsense' voice. ::Regarding the uprising in the Imperial City.::  
That got the attention of both guards, who gave them even harder looks. ::Declare yourselves.::

::I am Mei Xian, Imperial Mother, former Empress of Xing, recent captive of Tiahuan. The Tiahuan Clan has committed the highest treason, and I come seeking sanctuary and offering council. This is my honored Granddaughter, Minxia Xian Elric, and Thrakos Argyros.::

All three names got minor starts out of the guards, who looked them over, but apparently could see no reason to disbelieve them. After all, Minxia was obviously mixed blood, and Thrakos clearly Cretan. If they did not recognize Mei, they would have to be crazy.

One of the guards went into the little guard post in the wall and, Minxia presumed, called his superiors. It was several minutes before he returned. ::Your escort is on the way. You will be taken to the Provincial Estate.::

::Thank you,:: Mei replied with only a slight incline of her head. An appropriate thank you that did not put her beneath the citizens of the Empire. Minxia watched, taking note of each subtle thing her Grandmother did. It was impressive and made her feel -despite her international travels and city-childhood - rather inexperienced.

So they waited, with Grandma sitting as if they had all the time in the world, looking patient and in control of the situation, all while sitting on the old dented wooden seat of a farm wagon. Thrakos, clearly less patient, took a few minutes to check the horses and their harness over. Minxia sat, trying to appear as calm as Mei.

Finally, an escort of eight armored men arrived. _I wonder if that's an honor guard or a prison guard. _

::If you will please come with us,:: the head guard -who was differentiated by having a plume on his helmet- said respectfully, and inclined his head as appropriately due the Imperial family. The rest stood at attention.

::Of course, Captain,:: Mei replied with all respect. She stepped down from the cart with surprising ease, and came up with Minxia and Thrakos. ::If one of your men will please see to these fine animals. They have done more in service to the Empire in recent days than many we used to call allies.::

That got a blink and then a, ::We will see to it, Your Grace.::

It was a quiet evening. The streets held few people as they were led through them, though a few curious faces peered out through windows. Minxia had never been to this part of Xing before, and she couldn't help but notice the subtle differences in architecture, the tendency for colored lacquers and not just black. Some of the wood was stained in shades she had not seen before, and the walls were thicker. More of the buildings this far north had a much sturdier construction, and fewer screen walls. She could see why, as much snow as she had been forced to deal with the past couple of days. A fresh fall had dropped three inches on their travels, and the town had a festive air. Though that might be Minxia's own childhood memories. In Amestris, snow and the winter season holidays went hand in hand, if they got it at all. While the holidays were well over, the snow still reminded her of home. For the first time in a very long time, Minxia felt homesick.

Thrakos gave her hand a squeeze. Minxia looked up and smiled at the understanding on his face. They didn't have to say a word, but she knew he had read her feelings, if not her thoughts. She missed him when they were apart. His offer from a few days before came to mind. She wanted to spend her life with him… but was she ready to give up her dream to stay in one place? Once they settled, it would be difficult to continue her work, especially after they had children… whenever that was. Minxia's insides fluttered at the thought.

She didn't have much more time to dwell on the future, as they approached a large manor house that bordered on being a small palace. The dark green roof poked out of the snow at the bottom edges.

They were escorted indoors, and a wash of warmth such as she hadn't felt in over a week met Minxia at the entrance. They were led down dark-wood floored hallways until the guards slid open a door to their right, and led them into a room which contained only a tea table, a pot and cups, and not much else.

::There are dry robes in the closet.:: One guard stepped over to a wall and opened it. Minxia saw house robes hanging, and towels on a shelf. ::You are requested to make yourselves comfortable. Your host will be with you shortly.::

Interesting that they did not say who that was.

::Thank you,:: Mei said to the men. Once they were alone they shed their coats, and wet shoes, and put on robes of appropriate sizes and house-slippers that were warm and comfortable. Minxia hadn't realized just how frigid her feet had gotten. She chose a robe of purple, with white-and-black reed-and-cranes all over it. Grandma Mei took one in red, with white flower blossoms. Thrakos fit one that was deep green with scrolling gold dragons.

When their host had not yet appeared, they knelt down around the tea table. ::Is it appropriate to drink without the host?:: Thrakos asked, as he shifted, not accustomed to the position. He was big enough that Minxia expected he found it uncomfortable. His feet would fall asleep quickly.

::In these circumstances, we are not expected to stand on ceremony,:: Mei replied. ::Though if we wait a moment, I expect things will be tended to appropriately.::  
Almost as if she could read the minds of the staff, a servant opened the door, nodded as if she had expected them to be dressed by now, and knelt down to pour them each a steaming cup of tea. It was a dark, spicy brew, that nipped at Minxia's nose even before they picked them up to drink.

Mei was served first, and gave a sip, then a nod of approval. The servant then served the rest of them, bowed, and exited. ::See?:: Mei smiled. ::They still know how to do things properly here.::

They spent several minutes in relative silence. Outside the room, Minxia could hear slippered feet moving down the hall in measured but quick steps… servants most likely. Outside the window on the exterior wall, snow was falling on top of the existing white, burying a garden with a tiny stone pagoda, a bridge, and a frozen pond.  
Slower, measured, almost halting steps paused outside. The door opened, and Minxia looked up to see a very old man. _That's not Shirong Yao_. He was too old, though he looked even older than his age. Years had worn him down, and he was rail thin, though he held himself with a quiet composure, belied by a spark of life in his eyes. His mouth looked like it wanted to quirk up into a smug grin, though it remained a thin line. Once, it had probably done that often.

To her surprise, Grandma Mei stood slowly, and held out her hands to the man. ::Ling Yao, thank you for your hospitality.::

Thrakos' mouth fell slightly open. Minxia hoped she looked less startled.

This man did not look insane. Nor did he look like someone who would have led an attack on Amestris. He had been behind the war that Aunt Sara and Uncle Franz had met during… the capture and torture of Grandpa Ed and Jean Havoc.

Ling Yao extended his hands, and bowed as fully as he could manage. ::I see you, Mei Chan… Xian. You honor my house such as it has not been in far too long.::

::It makes me joyful to see you restored,:: Mei replied as Ling straightened again slowly, and took her hands. ::You were long lost.::

::I have too good a memory to forget,:: Ling admitted. ::While I cannot remember everything, I know that your kindness was more than I deserved. You and Edward Elric even restored my son to me. These past fourteen years have been a new life. I know that it was best how things turned out for Xing. There is no way we would turn you away, or your family.:: He looked past Mei at Minxia, then gave Thrakos a curious look. ::Though your arrival is unexpected. My son will join us when he has finished business. Until then, I hope you will accept me as a reasonable host.::

::Of course.:: Mei gestured to the table. ::Please join us.::

Unaided, if slowly, Ling lowered himself to the fourth seat with aged dignity. ::This is my favorite tea,:: he commented as Minxia took it upon herself to quickly pour him a cup. He looked at Minxia then, with surprisingly intense eyes. ::You are Renxiang's daughter.::  
Minxia nodded. ::Yes.::

::I had heard she married into the Elric family. My son keeps me apprised of much of what I have missed. You are quite lovely.::

::Thank you.:: Minxia tried not to feel flustered. She had no idea where the conversation was going.

Then he looked at Thrakos. ::I did not expect the son of the President of Creta in my house. It is an unexpected honor. You would be the husband then.::  
Thrakos' cheeks flushed slightly. ::Actually, no. We're-::

::Engaged,:: Minxia blurted out before Thrakos could finish the statement, drawing Ling Yao's attention back to her. She was sure that her own cheeks were blushing slightly, though her complexion was less prone to it than some. ::We're engaged. He came with me to Xing because I was working at an archeological dig... until we heard about the coup.::

A humorous little smile spread across Ling's face. ::I see. Well, congratulations. You are fortunate to have found a man worthy of a noble house of Xing.::

::Thank you, sir,:: Thrakos replied, though he looked unsure how to take the comment. He also kept giving Minxia confused sideways glances when Ling wasn't looking. Minxia ignored the curious expression on her Grandmother's face as well. _We'll talk later,_ Minxia thought, wishing sometimes that Thrakos really could read her thoughts.

Ling broke the moment, thankfully, by turning his attention fully back to Grandma Mei. ::Now, you were captured by Tiahuan soldiers. How did you escape? Who is still captured?::

Minxia was relieved, and happy to let Mei explain everything that had transpired in the past few days. It felt like much longer.

::So any help that Yao would offer would be beyond our measure in thanks,:: Mei finally finished. ::Time is falling away quickly. If they cross into Tiahuan Province without being stopped, it will require military action to get them out again, and right now the majority of our military forces are on the other side of the Imperial City, dealing with the coup and trying to retake the city.::

::Of that I have been well apprised,:: Ling replied. ::While I will not speak for my son, I do not imagine you will find Shiro at all unsympathetic. His time working at the monastery made my son a wise and compassionate man. I admit they raised him better than I could have.::

::We have no comparison for that,:: a voice said from the door. Minxia looked up again and saw Shirong Yao standing in the entrance. ::Please, remain comfortable,:: the man said, joining them around the table with younger ease. ::It gives me much relief to see you alive,:: he said to Mei. ::And pains me to hear of the treason of Tiahuan. There have been skirmishes on their borders with other Provinces the past couple of days. They seem to wish to consolidate their hold on the lands between their Province and the Imperial City. Thankfully they have not yet turned their full attention to Yao. We are already mustering our Provincial guard to defend our border. It is not large, as most of our warriors have been sent to Imperial City for service these many years, but what forces we have are available to you if there is better purpose; as long as it does not leave us open to attack. I must protect those who cannot protect themselves.::

::Of course,:: Mei replied with an understanding nod. ::This will be an extension of that, if anything. We need a small, fast moving unit if we are to have any hope of rescuing my granddaughter, granddaughters-in-law, and great-grandchildren. We should leave at once.::

::Surely you do not intend to go yourself,:: Shirong said, clearly taken aback.

::Do you have anyone of my experience?:: Mei asked flatly. ::I am not only a healer, Shirong.::

::Fair enough,:: he admitted begrudgingly. ::But you are important. Your survival and freedom will stir even more the blood of Xing to rally to Tao. They feel defeated because they believe most of your family dead. Stay here, remain safe, and allow us to announce your freedom and survival. It will be a blow against Tiahuan.::  
Minxia liked that idea better. Not that she intended to stay behind, but Grandma had not fared as well as she was pretending out in the cold. Charging fully into combat again seemed foolish at her age. ::I think that sounds like a good idea,:: she spoke up.

::Wise girl,:: Ling smiled approvingly. ::You are too important to risk further, Mei. Surely you see that.::

Mei sighed, and took a sip of tea. ::I understand your concerns, and while I do not like remaining here, I hear the wisdom in your suggestion. Very well then, I will remain here… for now. Do not, however, mention Minxia or Thrakos in your announcement. Make it seem I escaped myself. Do not give the enemy more information than they need. Let rumors be spread.:: She looked sharply at Minxia. ::You must bring them back. Both of you.:: That hard look went to Thrakos, who nodded once, and said nothing else.

::We will, Grandmother,:: Minxia replied, trying to sound sure of herself, when she suddenly felt less sure than before. The enormity of the situation weighed heavily upon her. They couldn't afford to fail. If they did, both their family, and their Empire, would be lost.

* * *

They were given rooms in the guest wing of the Yao Estate, very nicely appointed ones that bordered on palatial. Thrakos was impressed. It seemed that most of the noble houses of Xing lived as well -or better- than his own family. Better, he admitted, since his family was not into opulence. Still, he was used to living well, and after weeks at the dig site and the past week trekking through the wilderness.

They were given time to bathe before they would be joining Shirong's whole family for dinner. Thrakos' room was to the right of Minxia's, which was to the right of Mei's. He felt a twinge of regret, a small one, that he wasn't sharing a room with Minxia. She had surprised the heck out of him during their conversation with Ling and Shirong Yao. Engaged? Did that mean she had decided to accept his proposal now… finally? Or was she just trying to save face? She had avoided the topic ever since the night he had brought it up, and he had been wondering if she had forgotten, or if she was finding a way to tell him no. He had no doubts that she loved him, but he knew how much she loved what she did as well. The last thing Thrakos wanted to do was make her feel torn, but they had been together for years, despite months apart at a time. He wanted something decided.

And now apparently a decision had been made in her head without him. At least, he hoped so. He just had to know for certain. When he finished bathing, he dressed in the clean clothes provided by Yao attendants -modern if conservative Xing attire- and went to knock on Minxia's door. ::Hey, Minx,:: he called out. ::It's me.::

The door opened, and for a moment he lost the ability to speak. Minxia stood there, hair down and still damp but half-dry from washing, wrapped in the robe from earlier, but clearly not dressed yet otherwise. She looked beautiful, somehow almost more striking than in the nude. The way the fabric hugged her curves. ::You can come in,:: she said after a moment.

Thrakos followed her in, then closed the door behind him and turned to face her. ::We need to talk. Did you mean what you said earlier?:: he asked without waiting for a response to his first declaration.

He didn't have to say what he meant. Her face flushed subtly. ::I love you,:: she said after a moment, her eyes meeting his. ::I know we don't spend nearly as much time together as we'd both like, and I know that a lot of that is my fault. I'm always traveling. That's why I asked you to come with me. Only… I didn't expect our trip to turn into a life or death battle.::

::Most people don't,:: Thrakos chuckled, moving in close. Minxia did not resist as he pulled her close in a hug. ::And you're a free spirit. It's one of the things I find most endearing about you.::

::You've waited so patiently for me,:: Minxia hugged him back tightly. ::When we get out of this… if we get out of it… I want us to go home, and get married, and I'll find something to do that I enjoy that doesn't involve running off to the opposite side of the continent without you all the time.::

::From now on, we only adventure together?:: He kissed her gently. ::Then let me try this again.:: He tipped her chin up lightly with one finger. ::Minxia Elric, will you do me the honor of allowing me to be your husband?::

She smiled. ::I wouldn't have it any other way.:: Then she kissed him again, and Thrakos put thoughts of where they were, everything that was happening, out of his mind. He pulled her against him, wondering absently how much time alone they had before they might be interrupted. The kiss deepened and he let his hands wander down, to the small of her back. His fingers caught in the tie of her robe. She felt so warm… so alive. So enticing…

A sharp knock at the door broke the moment.

Minxia broke the kiss, though her expression looked as disappointed as his. ::What is it?:: she called out.

::Dinner is in ten minutes,:: came the sound of a servant's voice.

::Thank you,:: Minxia replied. When the footsteps moved away, she looked back up at Thrakos who hoped, for a brief moment, that ten minutes was all they needed. ::I should finish getting dressed,:: she said, though Thrakos thought he heard regret in her voice.

::Right.:: Thrakos sighed, then he smiled and stepped back, his hands lingering briefly around her waist. ::Can't have you running around in that where others can see you.::

Minxia chuckled, then poked him in the chest with one finger. ::Don't get too possessive on me yet. We still have to get through all this.::

::I know.:: Thrakos had no intention of letting anything happen to either of them. Not now. ::I'll let you change. See you at dinner.:: As he left, he wondered where in the city he could find a ring.

* * *

The fire in the darkness chased the cold back, but not far, and not for long. Roy watched the fire and drank from the cup of strong dark tea, ignoring the lingering ache in his recently healed arm. The fighting today had been particularly rough, especially since he was with Fischer's unit fighting the main chunk of the forces at the north end of the city. They had almost managed to get to the walls, but it had been difficult, and costly. He had been fortunate enough to avoid the explosion near him that had taken out four of Tao's men, though he had gotten a shrapnel slash to his left triceps. He was grateful for the alchemical doctors with Tao's army. The cut would have been a couple of weeks in healing, and his arm longer for recuperation and strengthening afterwards without the healing assistance. Now it still ached, but the arm was useable immediately.

It didn't stop him from wishing he could spend the evening snuggled up at home on the couch with Trisha, or that there was something to spike the tea with. He had never been particularly fond of tea, even though this was better than most, which made it tolerable. _Who ever heard of an army that doesn't drink coffee?  
_  
Across from him, his father-in-law was staring down at a stack of notes on his lap, working even though it was well past dinner and he had ordered everyone else to rest and take a little time for themselves tonight, before combat resumed in the morning. Which it would, because the plan was to push as hard as they could. The tactics were working reasonably well at deflecting the smaller rockets they had been hit with so far, as long as they managed to hit them. If not, the results were devastatingly effective.

Retaking the city was going to take a long time at this rate. Which was, of course, why Franz Heimler had his nose buried in his work, despite the hour. He refused to take breaks, working with an almost feverish fury at all hours. Having never worked directly under his command, Roy had always thought of him as Trisha's Dad and, after that, his father-in-law. Watching him be "the General" particular under warfare conditions, was a new experience, and somewhat disconcerting. He had never really thought of Franz as a warrior, despite knowing he had been a regular enlisted soldier before going officer.

Franz' tactics were not the conservative ones he might have imagined. While he wasn't ruthless, he was calculating, determined, and not afraid of necessary risks. He made use of the alchemists with no hesitation, trusting them to hold themselves in check as needed, or do what needed to be done. He wasn't rushing, but somehow he still felt like he was in a hurry, particularly outside of combat.

Roy knew where Franz really wanted to be. Pushing the Tiahuan back… and finding the Hashman Syndicate members who were here somewhere.

"You wanted something?"

Roy hadn't realized how openly he was watching, until Franz looked back at him, the firelight reflecting in his glasses.

"Wondering something," Roy admitted instead, glad they were alone.

"Well, what is it?"  
_  
If I don't come back, Trish, it'll be because your father killed me for impertinence._ "Why are you doing this?" Roy asked, making himself look Franz in the eyes. "You've never taken lead of a battlefield situation before, and you practically shoved your way into this one. It… it feels to me like you're not here just because of this. I don't think you have ulterior motives but…"

"You want to know if this is a revenge trip."

Well, at least he hadn't had to say it. "Yeah. I do."

Franz didn't look away. "I want the Hashman Syndicate destroyed. I want them to pay for what they've done in Amestris, and elsewhere, for the state alchemists they've killed, and the innocents they've harmed trying to meet their own vendettas. And yes, that includes Sara's murder. They have to be stopped. They're involved in this civil war in Xing too, and that affects more of our family just as directly. But it's also about saving the Empire and keeping it from falling back into the chaos it was in when I was a boy, and when I enlisted. All of this needs to be done. It's for the betterment of the world around us. If it allows me to get revenge on Sara's killers at the same time, well that's just that much better for me. However, it doesn't mean I'm going to risk other people just to get what I want. If I have to let them walk away… well I'll go after them when it's all over instead. Sara would never forgive me if I let anyone get killed just to bring her murderers to justice."

"I never thought you had this kind of thing in you," Roy admitted after several moments absorbing everything he had just heard. "I mean, I'm impressed, but you're a much more aggressive General than I expected."

"If Belle were still here… I probably wouldn't be," Franz took off his glasses, cleaning them on a scrap of cloth from his pocket. "But she's not, and the men on the other side of this fight will be very sorry they messed with us."

Roy nodded. He couldn't say this hadn't changed him either. He still remembered the threats he had leveled at Hashman himself, and how coldly he had managed to pull off that bluff. If he had actually had to do the things he had insinuated, he would have been equally guilty of cruel and unusual forms of torture. "We'll make them pay," he agreed quietly. "I just had to know where you stood… mentally."

"I understand," Franz replied. "And if you ever see me doing something irrational, or ordering people to do something Sara would never allow… stop me, by whatever means necessary. This isn't worth doing if I'm not better than they are in the end."  
_  
That_ he could live with. "I can do that."


End file.
